Misfortune
by vendetta543
Summary: Louise wanted power, wishing with all her heart that she could prove herself worthy of her family name. The Outsider is all too willing to answer her pleas.
1. Chapter 1

**So I got bored and thought about some of the reviews I got. One guy kept asking for a Dishonored crossover and I thought 'Why the need for Corvo or Daud? The Outsider can grant powers'. And then I realized that some of those powers look eerily similar to wind magic, such as 'Blink' or Windblast'. Hell, even 'Devouring Swarm' can be excused as summoning Golems.**

**And then I thought about writing this. Warning now: Don't expect this to be updated. As of this writing it's just a one-shot with no plans for continuation. And if I do continue it it's likely going to be jumping to different points rather than being a full story. Legth-wise it'll also be short, so think of it as a quick read.  
**

* * *

Louise gulped as she saw her rival, Kirche Von Zerbst, cast the summoning spell and receive a fiery crimson salamander. Oh Brimir above, she was nervous. Bad enough that she was the last person on the list to do her summoning - It just gave her more and more time to contemplate what would happen if she failed. At least if she were first she could see the results rather than wait here and let her mind stew on the myriad possibilities that awaited her should she fail.

Would she be expelled? No, that was the last of her problems. The Familiar summoning was the last chance she had to prove that she was capable of magic. She'd studied the theory's in and out and only Tabitha had her beat in the reading record, and that was only because she kept her focus trained on the magical theorem books and training manuals. Reading fairy tales and other things was time better spent learning on how to improve her magic.

Oh, but she was nervous. Being expelled was one thing, but it was another when she had to think of her family's reaction. Cattleya would be there for her, there was no doubt that on that, but what about the rest of her family? She was already a burden on them with her lack of magic, and the likeliest reaction they'd have would be to disown her for her lack of magic capability. If she were lucky then the best situation she could hope for would be for them to just marry her off to some far-off Count or Viscount - Her old fiance Wardes already having lost contact for ten years now - so they could wash their hands clean off her. But that was more merciful than she could honestly expect.

"Louise Valliere," Professor Colbert's voice called out.

Louise gulped and stepped forward to the deisgnated summoning spot, "Good luck, Valliere," Kirche tapped her shoulder and gave a mocking smile as she passed by the pinkette. She glared, though the Germanian's smile never left her face. She wanted to prove her wrong. She wanted her and everyone who ever mocked her to eat their words and realize that she was worthy of their respect. Once she got her Familiar, she could finally prove to everyone, prove to herself, that she was a worthy noble. That she wasn't a 'Zero'.

She took a deep, calming breath before beginning her chant, "I, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers, following my fate, summon a familiar!"

* * *

It was done. Corvo was dead, buried next to the Empress that he loved and pledged his loyalty to. But he wasn't killed by blades or bullets, nor magic or machinery, but old age. Yes, the Lord Protector and the greatest assassin of the empire, had fallen prey to that which killed any and all humans regardless of their efforts. He watched as Empress Emily the Wise laid a bouquet of flowers at his grave, suppressing tears as she prayed for the soul of the man who had given everything for her, her family and her kingdom.

"Goodbye, Corvo," The Outsider spoke, bidding a final farewell to the human who had piqued his interest for his actions. He felt no sadness, only a brief sense of longing and regret that he had no one to observe now. Corvo was given his powers and he had expected him to use it as a tool of vengeance, damning anyone he deemed to be in his way as was the nature of humans.

But the Serkonian had surprised him.

He killed no guards in his way, despite the fact that it would have made his life easier, and always went out of his way to try and help those in need. But this didn't stop him from helping to enslave the Pendletons, or to mark High Thaddeus Campbell with his own seal and he didn't even hesitate to send Lady Boyle with a man who promised that the rest of her life would be spent in misery and despair. So he had supposed that Corvo was no different from the rest - That he had spared them not out of mercy, but out of a desire to prolong their lives and make them live in suffering.

But then he had finally surprised him. When Daud had made a request to be spared, Corvo had sheathed his blade and walked away. He had acted acted surprised ever so briefly and he could have sworn the assassin smirked at his brief moment of confusion. Unlike the others, Daud's request was true mercy and he had fully expected Corvo to give in to his baser needs and take revenge on the man who had ruined his life. But when given the chance he walked away, making him one of the most interesting people the entity had ever known.

And now he was gone. Daud was dead as well; his other enemies had finally caught up to him long ago and he accepted their vendetta against him with no hesitation. With his death the 'Whalers' had died with him, all the powers he had given his disciples waning not long after he left the world. It had been years since he had chosen to give his power to someone. No one had garnered his interest, no one was fated to save or end the world. With Corvo's death, everyone who had been blessed with his powers were no more.

"I, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers, following my fate, summon a familiar!"

He turned to the source of the voice and raised an eyebrow ever so slightly at the sight of the familiar green oval. He recognized the shape, though the last time he had deemed to answer the call was six thousand years ago when he met that crazed child Brimir. He was destined to save his people from a threat that couldn't be beaten back conventionally, and he had attempted to summon something to ask for assistance. He gave him no powers - his own blessed magic already being enough - but he did grant him the capability to brand others with extensions of his power like Daud did.

The Mage made four of them; one that could control animals, one that could wield any weapon, one that could use magical artifacts and constructs and the last to be a sacrifice for whatever he wanted. He had granted some of these to Corvo and Daud as well - To control rats, to be proficient with weaponry beyond their training, to control people and creatures as if they were constructs and many more.

But Brimir proved ultimately like the rest of his kind. He killed an entire race, and then he tried to kill another; attempting to sacrifice his closest friend and lover to sate his desires. He died as a madman, and yet he was worshiped as a messiah. Fate's machinations had an odd sense of humor.

And yet, another was summoning him? Odd, he didn't see himself being summoned yet. He blinked slowly and appeared at the portal's gate. Fate's weave was all known to him, and yet he did not see this coming. How odd. It was like when he couldn't foresee Corvo letting go of his desire for revenge. Did this mean there was another that could prove of interest to him?

He looked through the portal and found a girl who looked no older than the child who knew only fear and loneliness. He could already see her past and future; mocked by her peers, rejected by her family, and yet she did her best to remain loyal and steadfast. Despite this he could sense and anger within her, the wish to lash out against all those who had hurt her and to never be hurt again. She was destined to save the land from a great catastrophe, but how she did this...oh, now this was interesting.

She had the same powers as that Brimir fellow. But he could tell that it was weak, that she had only received a shard of his primordial gifts. She would prove interesting. She was destined to save people, and yet she saw a hatred within her that boiled hotter than the core of a fire. Would she be the one to save her people? Or would she drag them all down to oblivion with her after judging them to be unworthy of being saved? Her power was weak now and she could use his blessing.

He had finally found something to do.

* * *

Louise fainted. She didn't know how or why - She was casting the spell and maintaining the connection, praying to Founder Brimir above that she wouldn't shame her family, and the next she found herself crumpling to the floor and the sounds of her schoolmates and teachers yelling at her; a mix of concern and jeers that she had done exactly as they expected her to.

She awoke slowly, but it was evident at first glance that she was alone. She stood up shakily and observed the area around her: Foggy, and the landscape was unnatural. She could see earth and trees bent in unnatural shapes, spires and arcs of stone that she barely recognized dotting the landscape. She saw figures clouded in smoke and shadow pass by quickly before they disappeared into the ether.

What was going on? Where was she?

"Ah, my dear Louise," She turned around quickly and nearly screamed at the man who had appeared before her. He was young, with short dark hair and a face that one could consider handsome under the right conditions. The clothes he wore were reminiscent of the ones an army man would wear, but his lack of a sword or wand made it hard to believe he was.

"H-How do you know my name? Who are you?" She asked weakly.

"The one who walks here," He gestured to the alien world around them, "is all things. Cradle songs of comfort and bones gnawed by teeth. How you see me is up to you. Many have differing opinions."

"Why...Why am I here?" She placed both hands against her head and took deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She was dreaming, she was sure of it. She had summoned her Familiar and she fainted from excitement, that was all it was. That would explain why the stranger was floating and not touching the ground. Dreams made no sense and he had no wand, so he couldn't possibly be a Mage.

"My dear Louise, what a sad hand fate has dealt you," He continued, ignoring her panic, "Third child of the Valliere family and yet only carrying a shard of his power, not enough to be great without someone by your side to protect you. Everyone thinks you're worthless and you only wish to prove them wrong. Today was your last chance and yet you had failed."

"Failed? No, no, I didn't fail!" She denied quickly, "I'm just dreaming now and when I wake up I'm going to be fine!"

"Deny it if you wish, but your portal summoned no Familiar. You have no animal in which to prove your right as a Mage and as a worthy successor to your family," He mouth curved upwards slightly, though it was hard to notice through the fog, "But I can change that. Do you want power? Do you wish to prove all those who mocked you wrong?"

"You're lying! I'm a Mage of the Valliere family!"

"I never refuted your claim," He answered coolly, "I asked a question and you are the one who will decide your answer. I can sense his power within you, but it is weak and fragmented. Your dreams, your desires, they can't be fulfilled while you stand alone. You need power to make them a reality."

Louise thought it over briefly. What was there for her to lose? If this was a dream, then her answer wouldn't matter in the long run anyway. And she would do anything to make her family proud of her, to serve her country of Tristain for both the nobility and her friend Henrietta. But she couldn't do that as a failure Mage, as a 'Zero'. She needed strength."

"Y-Yes...I want power." As soon as the words left her lips, she felt a burst of intense pain on her left hand. She watched through pained eyes as a rune carved itself into her hand, its shape reminiscent of a golden half-compass. She could see the semi-circle into numerous spikes and its arrow, reminiscent of a sword, pointing upward. What was this thing? This was power?

"A wise choice," The fog started to envelope him, "I look forward to seeing what you do with this power. I'll be watching." She was alone again. She looked down at the brand and traced her hand along its spiral shapes. The landscape around her started to shake erratically, forcing her to the ground. She was waking up again, she was sure of it. A part of her wondered if this was real and she would truly wake up with power, but another told her to not be foolish and to keep herself in reality. And yet, she couldn't stop herself from hoping.

She closed her eyes and accepted the release.

* * *

**So in the off-chance I do update this, anybody have a skill-list for Louise? I could just use the default game skills since they're strong enough on their own. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Just a**** s****h****ort**** chapter for now. I never really thought about updating this, so this chapter's mostly Louise just showing how weirded out she is about her powers and then realizing that she sucks at usin****g them compared to Corvo or Daud.**

**Oh, and I'm playing Dishonored - never actually played it - in order to get a better grasp on its themes and characters, along with the Outsider's portrayal. Depending on where this story goes, Louise either keeps her humanity like Corvo or loses it completely to madness like Granny Rags/Very Moray. What makes for a better story? That's up to you guys to decide. **

**Last note: Since there are no Outsider runes in Halk - at least not as of this writing - Louise already has all her baseline powers unlocked and ready for use; the only problem being she's incapable of using them properly due to her young age and general inexperience. So while she does get the cool passives like regenerating health or double jump, the cooler powers like blink, rat swarm, windblast are harder to use since she didn't unlock them gradually using the runes. **

* * *

"Where am I?"

What greeted Louise was not the blue sky of the outside or even the green grass of the earth, but rather a wooden roof and the crisp smell of freshly laundered sheets. She blinked slowly as her eyes focused on her surroundings, the pain on her left hand causing her to wince as she forced herself to sit up. What happened? Why was she in the clinic? What about the Familiar summoning-

The summoning! She forced herself to stand before looking around frantically. If she had summoned a Familiar, then it would make logical sense for it to be around her if she fainted and had been brought to the clinic. Granted she never finished the contract in the first place, but the professor would have placed it here next to her, right? He had to. It was the only proof she had that she was a Mage.

Nothing greeted her when she looked around the bed. She felt her heart skip a beat in panic. Where was her Familiar? If it wasn't here then...no, no this wasn't how it would end. She got down on her hands and knees and started to search frantically under the bed. Maybe...maybe she'd summoned something small like the Headmaster's mouse or Montmorency the flood's frog. Brimir damn it all, she would have taken an ant if it had gotten her proof that she was a Mage! Today was to be her last chance. She couldn't afford to fail here.

The searching amounted to nothing, but she did find something else that piqued her interest: The half-compass like brand in her hand. She sat down on the bed again and traced her fingers against the dark drawing. It was the same one she had in her dream, the same one that she assumed would be gone by the time she woke up. Was that dream real? Was the young man- no, she could tell he was more than that. Did he truly bless her with power?

"What is this-ah!" She hissed as the brand in her hand lit up to a golden color, causing her skin to feel as if it had been wreathed in flames. She wanted the pain to stop, she wanted to get out of the clinic and find Professor Colbert. She didn't know what was happening. Had one of the students branded her as a prank? No, the professor would never allow it and she couldn't think of anyone - not even that Zerbst - who would be petty enough to brand her with an unknown and yet ornamental mark while she was unconscious. There was little point in it.

She stood up again weakly and felt her vision turn sideways as the mark burned again. Brimir above, she wanted to get some fresh air. Her eyes drifted over to the far end of the clinic's right side. That was where the largest window (and great view of the forest) was, but how was she going to get over there in her state and with this thing burning into her hand. If only there was a way for her to get there easier. She clenched her hand in frustration-

A sudden feeling of weightlessness encompassed her and she felt herself being roughly pushed forward and pressed back at the same time, "Ow!" She felt her head and left hand smash against the pane of glass and the material break on the contact, cutting against her hand and forehead roughly. She took deep, pained breaths as she felt the glass cut against her skin and draw blood.

"How...how did..." She winced and placed her right hand against her forehead, shivering as she felt the blood beginning to drip between her fingers. She raised her left hand and frowned as she saw the deep cut that covered the entirety of her palm. How did she get here? She certainly didn't remember losing her sanity and choosing to smash against the window like a madwoman. She groped for her wand weakly and raised it before hesitating. Certainly Mages had the power to heal, but all of her spells always ended in explosions. So how how was she to...

"Wh-What!?" She choked on her breath as she saw her skin weaving together briefly before finally joining together again. Her eyes widened and she groped at her hand, trying to see if she was hallucinating or if she had finally gone mad; no, she wasn't hallucinating. The blood was still there, but wiping it away showed that the skin beneath the crimson liquid had already healed completely. Her hands went to her forehead and she quickly wiped away the blood there. The result was the same: Blood, but no wound or injury. At least not anymore.

She placed both hands against her head and closed her eyes tightly. She didn't understand what was happening. Yes, the she was a Mage who was expected to be stronger than tens of men combined, but none of her classes ever told of Mages who teleported without meaning to or healing from wounds in mere seconds without the aid of water magic. She'd certainly heard that to be the case for the firstborn species such as Vampires or Elves, but she was no Godless abomination. She was a student and noble of Tristain.

The area around her changed. She saw the room around her tinged in gold and the bottles of medicine and knives on the tables turn a shade of blue and green. She shook her head roughly to dispel the illusion, but it did little. She saw figures making their way to the entrance of the clinic. She saw them through the walls, their entire bodies cloaked in a golden light and unable to discern their features beyond their body shape. She already knew who they were: The Headmaster and Professor Colbert. She recognized their physiques since she'd seen them enough times in the school. She could even make out the Headmaster's Familiar, Motsogonir, walking beside the old man.

But what interested her were the cones of light they had in front of them. They were large and followed each of their heads whenever they turned to look at something else. Even Motsogonir had one, albeit much smaller compared to the two staff members. Was it their vision? It would certainly explain why it turned to follow their eyes whenever they faced another direction.

"I'm afraid we'll have to tell her the bad news," She heard the headmaster's voice drift into the room, "No Familiar and branding her own hand. The poor girl..." She felt her breath hitch in her throat. No Familiar. That meant...she shook her head and tried to suppress her tears. So not only had she failed to summon a Familiar, they think she branded herself as well. That wasn't even getting into these bizarre powers she had or how she was going to explain herself when asked.

"Damn it..." She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged herself tightly, "...What's happening to me?" She glared at the mark in her hand, unsure if it was even connected to the incidents or how it even got there. The abomination from her dreams came into her mind again before she crushed the idea. The only high power there truly was was Brimir. There were other Gods worshiped, but they were mere forces of nature compared to him. She just needed to get away, to leave without anyone seeing her.

Louise would later regret thinking that as she found her consciousness migrating to the hapless mouse approaching the room.

* * *

**Short chapter, but this is basically just snippets and random jumping around anyway.**

**Explanation on the regen: Vitality level II allows you to regen health you lose so long as you only get hit once. So Louise bangs her head against the window, she recovers the damage she received. But if she continuously bangs her head then the regen only recovers damage taken since the last hit. So its not too gamebreaking provided she gets swarmed or comboed. **

**BTW, I'll post a draft after this note. If all goes well, maybe I'll make a dual story: One where Louise is a good/heroic figure and one where she's amoral/evil. Would lengthen the chapters by quite a bit. **

**Non-canon warning: The following segment is non-canonical for the purposes of this fic and I added it in because someone in SB commented about Louise going mad with power and taking revenge on those she deemed to have hurt her too much. Obvious allusions to Granny Rags aside, I doubt this will ever be used unless I want to turn Louise into a Villain Protagonist. She's no better than Joseph or Sheffield. **

* * *

"Are you prepared for this, Valliere?"

Louise said nothing as Guiche pointed his rose want at her, daring her to make even a single comeback or taunt. She didn't need to. She suppressed a smile as she moved her left fist slightly. He thought he was great, controlling Golems made out of dented bronze. She thought it was impressive too, but it felt so long ago now. Now she had power, power that none of them had - Power that they **wished** they had. She would prove herself here and now, and she even had a chance to take revenge on one of her tormentors.

Killing two birds with one stone.

She didn't even know how she got here, but in the end it didn't really matter. She vaguely recalled calling Guiche out on his perversions, along with him being slapped. But the end result was what she craved; he'd felt offended and challenged her to a duel, fully expecting to win since he still assumed her to be a 'Zero'. Oh, how delicious would the irony be once she proved him wrong.

"Come, my bronze Golem!" Guiche cast quickly, throwing one of his rose petals to the ground. The Golem that came out was ornate, dressed in a coating of yellow bronze and wield a large spear and shield in tandem. She could see Guiche smirking from behind the construct. He thought he was going win this.

The Bronze Golem took a few steps toward her before it was flung back suddenly, a gust of wind tossing it into the air before it crashed audibly. Guiche's eyes widened as he saw Louise flick her left hand and summon another gust of wind, this time pushing him to the ground and causing him no small amount of pain. The students surrounding them quickly backed away. Louise was using wind magic! 'The Zero' was using wind magic! Had she inherited her mother's power after all? They didn't see her use her wand at all.

Guiche crawled towards his wand. It was torn from his grasp when he temporarily flew through the air and he needed it back if he had any chance of winning. Desperately he scrambled towards it, only to be with disappointment as he saw Louise stepping on it triumphantly, "Boo," She smiled, an action that caused him a severe a mount of distress, and picked up his wand before tossing it to the side quickly. His eyes followed its trajectory and he scrambled towards it again. He had no chance against a wind Mage without it.

Louise sighed in annoyance before she clenched her left and and disappeared in a puff of dark light; blink, one of the more mundane talents she'd learned, "Ahh!" Guiche screamed as she suddenly appeared in front of him, the smile never leaving her face even as he backed away, "I-I-I surrender! Come now, let us stop this before either of us get in trouble for breaking the school rules! What say we forget this ever happened."

"All duels are to the death," A final flick of the hand punctuated her words. Guiche braced her arms in front of him and waited for the impending wind spell...but nothing came. He looked around him and found his peers quickly backing away to make way for something: Rats, dozens upon dozens of rats. He screamed again as he quickly noticed them making their way towards him. He ran, screaming apologies and begging for Louise to call off her 'rat golem's'.

She didn't care to hear him.

"Ahhh!" He screamed as the group finally caught up to him. The vermin bit into him quickly, drawing blood and forcing him to the ground. By themselves, rats weren't enough to kill, but in enough numbers they could kill even the strongest predators, "Valliere! Stop!" He begged again. The pain was unbearable. His entire body was being chewed mercilessly by the rodents and his blood began to cover the grassy field. No one dared to come forward and help him, afraid of being the pinkette's next target.

Except one.

"Louise, stop! You're killing him!" Montmorency pushed through the crowd and shook Louise's shoulders roughly, "Louise, he's going to die!" She shook her again, trying to mark some sense into the smiling teen. Louise ignored her, content to watch as Guiche struggled futilely against the swarm she had summoned. She could see his skin being torn off viciously followed by his bones. His screams eventually faded into dull gurgles as the rats began to feast on his bones. They wasted nothing, after all.

"You...you killed him..." Montmorency backed away from her and suppressed the urge to vomit, cry and collapse into the ground all at the same time. She had just seen her fiance eaten by rats and Louise's smile never left her face. Yes, Guiche had made fun of her, but he didn't deserve to die for it!

"..." Louise said nothing, but her eyes did go from where Guiche was to the hyperventilating Montmorency. She'd called her a monster, but she was just paying him back for everything he had given her twice over. ...Now that she thought about, Montmorency was also one of the most vocal about how worthless she was.

Her smile widened as the rats neared the panicking blonde. She'd found her next target.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone :) Another short chapter before we do our first official time-skip, mostly because there isn't much changes to canon in the 'Good storyline'. Oh that's right, I'm planning the dual story thing so we can extend the chapters a bit :D So if you want Louise's characterization to remain intact and for her to be following canon most of the time, look at the 'Good/Low-Mid Chaos' part of the story. **

**On the other hand, anyone who wants to see a destructive and amoral girl with a streak of power hungriness, look at the 'Evil/High Chaos' story that comes at the second part. I'll warn you now, however, that Louise acts OOC and way more confident yet psychotic during these segments. She kind of...snaps when she realizes that she gets powers - Possession and Time Stop in particular - that can beat even the Elves or Vampires. Although unlike Corvo or Daud she has to rely on magic more; she's not strong enough to copy their assassination skills or swordsmanship and just because she knows how to use a sword doesn't mean she has the strength or agility for it. **

**Last note: I might take a break after writing this chapter. I just played through 'Knife of Dunwall' and I'm currently waiting for 'Brigmore Witches' - The screenshots show the Coven using Outsider-like powers and one even shows a child/teenager with earth tentacles surrounding her or summoning 'gravehounds', meaning their magic might be more elemental in nature rather than spiritual. **

**That and, if the poem I found playing as Daud is any indication, it seems like the Coven leader - Delilah Cooperson - plans to possess Emily and use her to rule the empire. This sounds like something an Evil!Louise might try on a certain young princess, if she ever feels the need for it. So I'll be basing the high chaos Louise on Delilah rather than Granny Rags/Vera Moray, which makes her smarter in general. Hope she doesn't have an enemy like Delilah does to Daud. Although she does end up killing a lot of people, so...yeah I kinda doubt she won't. **

* * *

**Good story:**

Louise did her best not to stare at Professor Colbert as he paced around the room, muttering unintelligibly under his breath and taking turns smiling and frowning in intervals as he came to different conclusions. She also tried to ignore the sound of what sound like pained squeaks of agony as Motsogonir writhed in the bed where Osmond placed him, the old man casting a healing water spell despite his affinity for earth. She'd heard of the headmaster being skilled in multiple fronts, but he didn't think he could be so precise that he could heal a rat suffering from internal injuries.

The third daughter of the Valliere family closed her eyes tightly and covered them with both of her hands, ignoring the slightly panicked stare Colbert had thrown at her - Or rather, the brand atop her hand. She supposed it made sense for him to be afraid: He'd just barely caught sight of her before she disappeared as he blinked. Not even a second later the headmaster's mouse started fidgeting and vomiting blood as it tried to fight off her influence and she trying to retain her sanity as she realized that she had overtaken her headmaster's Familiar.

"Founder, please help me," Louise pursed her lips together and tried to suppress the coming headache. Her head hurt. Overtaking Motsogonir had interfered with the Familiar bond he and the headmaster shared, causing her no small amount of pain when the rats more feral instincts - normally restricted by the bond - came back at full force and threatened to overtake her. She could still remember the animalistic desires: The desire to run, to feed, to escape.

...And the craving for nuts and berries.

"I...I'm sorry, again. I-I-I didn't mean to..." Louise took an anguished breath and tried in vain to suppress her tears. She had no idea what was happening. While she was no stranger to magic, the idea that she had overtaken a mouse or seen through the walls without casting a single reconnaissance spell was simply too hard to swallow. It sounded like the devils magic or the magic of the spirits, but it was rather well known that humans were incapable of using that kind of magic. All they were capable of was the magic of Founder Brimir.

"Please calm down, Miss. Valliere," Colbert placated, raising both hands to try and calm down the nearly crying child, "I'm sure that there's an explanation for everything that's happening."

"But...but..." She shook her head roughly and pinched her left arm, trying to see if she was dreaming. She wasn't, "I...I have no idea what's going on. What happened to the Familiar ritual? Why is there a brand on my hand?" She rattled. She refused to say that she met a dark figure in her dreams or that this may have been her fault for wishing for power. No, she would never make a deal with the devil or use the heretical magic of the Firsborn's. It went against anything she was ever taught.

"We don't know, Miss. Valliere," Colbert's gaze drifted over to the headmaster's mouse before turning back to her, "First, could you please explain what has happened to you since the time of your waking? We need to determine something. I know you are not the kind to make deals with demons," He offered a comforting smile, a gesture she didn't return, "Just explain to us and we'll do our best to understand. The Headmaster doesn't bear a grudge, right?" He called out to the old man.

"Yes, of course," Osmond finished the healing spell and petted Motsogonir's belly, "I can tell by Miss. Valliere's reaction that she wasn't expecting this to happen, and I can't in good faith bear a grudge against one of my students for a mistake that they regret. Motsogonir will be fine; he's lived through many things over the years and this isn't the worst of it. Just explain, please."

And so she did. From the dreams of that twisted abyss, to the marking on her hand, to the first display of her new 'powers'. Osmond and Colbert listened, their faces neutral and not judging her at all. She made sure to emphasize

"This is odd," Colbert was the first to speak, "What you described is nothing like all of the recorded details on contact with the Spirits. You are aware of the elemental spirits, yes?" She nodded. She faintly recalled that the Montmorency family used to be well-known for being associated with the spirits of water before they angered them somehow, "They take the form of many elements. Sometimes they appear as human, but they still retain the element of nature which they represent. By your description, this figure who visited you in your dreams almost seemed human. Am I understanding this correctly?"

"Y-Yes. But he appeared...wrong somehow. Blurry and...incomprehensible, almost," She admitted carefully. His eyes sometimes appeared as completely black, but at other some points he even appeared normal for just a split second before she realized how alien he truly was. It wasn't his eyes, it wasn't the fact that he was floating or even the idea that he was the master of that void. He just felt off no matter how she thought about it.

"This is indeed odd," Osmond mused, "Tell me, Professor, Miss. Valliere didn't have this brand on her before the summoning ritual?"

"No, Headmaster," Colbert replied. "Though I don't remember it exactly, I distinctly remember her hand been bare before she attempted the summoning ritual. Brands and other drawings on the skin are also forbidden by academy law, so she wouldn't have been able to brand herself prior to our making our way here. Either the students or I would have taken notice if she had."

"I see..." The headmaster went quiet. Louise gulped nervously and tried to say something before he suddenly spoke again, "I believe that this...ahem, blessing was due to the ritual," He stated plainly, "It is the only way that the timing can be linked. But tell me, Miss Valliere, what powers do you now possess? I could feel Motsogonir's possession through the bond we shared, but that was all. You mentioned other skills?"

"Louise nodded and closed her eyes, "...There's a nurse coming here right now. In her hands she's carrying a tray, either food or bandages, and walking clumsily due. Her footsteps aren't loud, but they're not soft either. She's making her way here now," She recited. She could see through the walls every time she closed her eyes. She could see the figures both above and below her as they did their work.

Colbert was about to ask what she was talking about before a knock on the door interrupted him, "Excuse me?" A woman carrying a tray filled with food stepped in before nodding politely, "Forgive my rudeness, but I was instructed by sister Elizabeth to bring food for a Ms. Valliere," She hurried over and placed the tray on the table nearest to Louise's bed before rushing out.

"...Amazing," Colbert breathed out, "You could truly see he through the walls?"

She nodded, "Yes, and everywhere else as well," She closed her eyes again and pointed up, "Up above us I can see one of of the teachers teaching the first years. Below us I can see the servants sweeping the halls. I can see the Familiar's outside, see the vibrations whenever they roar or make a large step. It happens every time I close my eyes."

"Truly astounding-"

"Please calm yourself, Professor," Osmond interrupted, "This isn't why we came here," He coughed and turned back to Louise, "Miss. Valliere, your new skills aside, the students witnessed you summon nothing and failing the ritual. I'm afraid to say that, under the circumstances, your are considered to have failed the summoning ritual and this means that you are-"

"No! No, wait, please!" Louise interrupted quickly. She knew what the old man was about to say, "What about this?" She raised her left hand and shoved the brand at him, "You just saw me use unknown powers! I didn't make a deal with the devil or the spirits, nor did I have these skills prior to the summoning ritual. You yourself said that they were connected! How could you tell me that I failed!?"

"The ritual is for calling a companion, one who is bound to the Mage for life," Osmond continued, "Even if you failed the ritual, you could still attend this school provided that you show an elemental leaning," He sighed sadly, "Unfortunately, the new powers that you manifest would brand you as a heretic if you were to admit to having them; they are far too close to the magic of the Firstborn's and you would be accused of heresy and siding against the Founder's very faith. Me and Mr. Colbert will keep your secret safe, but if word were ever to get out to Romalia or even the capital...the consequences would be severe."

"No..." Another wave of tears went down her face. She finally received powers no one else had and she would be branded as an abomination against her faith for them. She clenched both of her hands together and and breathed in and out in a panic. She would be disowned from her family. They wouldn't want a failure who couldn't do the one thing every Mage was supposed to be capable of doing. She thought of how disappointed they would be. When she was young she dreamed of being as strong as her Mother, to be able to summon heavy winds at will-

A strong surge of wind interrupted her musings. She watched in surprise as Colbert was flung from his seat and smashed against the stone wall roughly by the strong blast of wind, vaguely in the shape of a miniature tornado. The headmaster had managed to avoid the winds altogether by casting a spell that bound his feet to the ground; he was far faster than he appeared.

"That...that was- agh!" Colbert flinched as he rubbed the back of his head. He had been hit against the wall rather hard, "Wind magic! Miss. Valliere, you just cast wandless wind magic!" He continued excitedly, "Do you know what this means, Ms. Valliere?" She shook her head numbly, "It means that whatever may have happened in the ritual, you now show an elemental alignment."

"Indeed," Osmond added, "While you may be mocked by your peers for not summoning a Familiar, you at least show that you are capable of wind magic like your mother. You can attempt the ritual again in your own time, but for now you are allowed to attend to this school so long as you don't reveal your new 'gifts' to anyone. We don't know how they may react to it.

Louise could tell that they were acting it out; the wind wasn't from her magic, but from the brand. But she was thankful to them all the same. They were willing to let her stay on account of a loophole and she wasn't going to waste it.

"Y-Yes. Thank you!" She looked down at the brand in her hand. She had no idea what it was or why she had been given this, but she refused to waste this chance. If she had to suffer confusion for it, then she was willing to take this pain. Better than being branded a failure and thrown away by her family. And who knew, maybe she could use this to help her country if the need ever came.

Maybe things were looking up.

* * *

**Evil story:**

Louise turned away as Montmorency started screaming, already beginning to hear the sounds of her summoned creatures ripping into Montmorency's flesh. She wrinkled her nose in disgust; couldn't they be at least a bit more neat? The coppery smell of blood wafted into her nose, causing her to frown in a manner many would have found cute had they not just witnessed what she'd done. She would've stopped it; one of them just had to tell her to stop, that killing Montmorency was going to far.

None of them so much as touched her.

They were in awe at her power - She knew this. She could see fear in their eyes, she could see their hands twitch for their wands when her eyes scanned over them. None of them would touch her; they'd heard the rumors. Even before this people who tended to mock her had ended up in the clinic for various reasons. They could still recall the buzz when they heard that Kirche was in the clinic after breaking both of her legs. She'd supposedly jumped from one of the balconies according to one of the servants who had seen her.

The Valliere smirked. Overtaking her mind was so easy. She'd tried to fight her control, to force her out of her body and keep her from extracting justice on her for all the months of torment, but she was stronger. Oh how she laughed when she heard Kirche's legs break, or when she screamed as she realized that the blood pooling around her legs was hers. Ah, it was a sweet bliss after constantly hearing her say 'Zero' all the time.

A burst of wind blew against her back, causing her to stumble slightly. She turned around and raised an eyebrow as she realized that the rats that had surrounded Montmorency were gone; blown away by the strong gust of wind. The injure noble cried, both in pain as she felt the injuries and relief that the pain was gone. One of the water Mages in the crowd had mustered up the courage and begun to chant a healing spell in order to relieve her pain and mend her wounds. Louise cared little for him.

Her eyes scanned the crowd until she found a familiar head of blue hair, "Tabitha..." Her face soured at the sight of her. While she had no problems with Tabitha herself, association with that Zerbst trash aside, she couldn't shake the feeling that the girl had been glaring at her ever since Kirche had been confined to the clinic. Did she find out that it was her? No, impossible. She was unseen and made sure that the Zerbst was by herself when she had done her possession. Besides, it wasn't as if Tabitha had any experience with possession at all.

It was likely that she was just suspicious of her due to her and Kirche's rivalry being well-known throughout the school. Of course, the list of enemies for that fool of a noble was likely large. She had angered many of the nobles here due to her heritage, her 'open' behavior and many other things that she couldn't be bothered to list. Louise was the top suspect, but she was hardly the only one.

"Against the rules," Tabitha stated plainly, looking neutrally at Louise as if daring her to try anything. Louise smiled and raised her arms in mock surrender before backing away from the courtyard. Tabitha wasn't there when she had fought Guiche - Visiting Kirhce in the clinic, no doubt. It was a shame; Guiche might have survived if she had been there. Though she did wonder briefly why Tabitha cared to help out Montmorency: As far as she knew, Tabitha was someone who didn't care to help anyone unless needed to or prodded by Kirche.

Everybody avoided her for the next few hours. She didn't get anything: Not a single jeer, not a whisper, and not even a summon to the headmaster's office for her actions. She closed her eyes and let her other sight envelope her. She could see students through the walls, their footsteps reverberating slowly and quietly as if they were trying to hide. She could see Familiar's taking to either the earth or the sky. A sight that amused her slightly was the golden sillhouette of Guiche's mole burrowing under the ground chaotically. The death of its master had shattered the bond, and it was no doubt causing it no small amount of pain. She pitied the poor creature slightly.

The lone figure passing through the hall next to her intrigued her attention. The maid uniform she wore was familiar...oh, that's right, she was the one Guiche was attempting to pin the perfume debacle on. Louise didn't even know why she had defended her, although all that mattered was that she had shown her powers publicly against anyone that still doubted her. She honestly didn't care much about the maid.

Although..., "Yes, maybe..." Another smile broke out on her lips. Her dreams of her mysterious benefactor's abyss had told her many things.

One of which was that she had the ability to share her gifts.

Siesta walked through the holes sluggishly, her eyes unfocused. This was it, she was going to be fired. Her actions had indirectly led to the duel and she had no doubt that she would be blamed in an effort to placate the late Mr. Gramont's father. She would be tried and executed, but that wasn't what worried her. She just hoped her family would get out of this unscathed. She had a feeling that this incident could be used as an excuse to confiscate her the winery that their family owned, and that was if they were lucky. If they were unlucky then they would all be blamed for this and then they would be hanged.

She stopped walking and took deep, panicked breaths. Why oh why had Miss. Valliere gotten involved? Everyone knew who she was; the talentless Mage. But she had a prestigious family and, assuming she wasn't disowned - she wasn't going to hold her breath on that - then she couldn't be held responsible due to her higher position. There was no doubt in her mind that her family would protect her - After all, she hadn't been sent to the convents despite her lack of skill in magic. That meant the blame would fall solely to her.

"You, servant, tell me your name."

Siesta turned around and 'eeped' as she saw the shorter form of the Valliere girl. What did she want? Hadn't her life already been ruined? If possible she wanted to suffer for this alone and not involve her family. Perhaps she could beg the girl for a solitary execution? No, that wouldn't work. She was the one who was responsible for killing the Gramont child, so asking her would just make things worse.

"Didn't you hear me? I asked for your name," Louise repeated.

"S-Siesta," She stood up straight and answered nervously. God, what was she going to do? She still remembered seeing Mr. Gramont get eaten by rats as he called for help that never came. She tried to get her fired and blamed for his own mistakes, but even she didn't believe that he deserved to die in such a painful manner. No one did.

"Hmm..." Louise looked her up and down slowly before her lips curved upward ever so slightly. She had no idea why, but she had a feeling that this girl would be more receptive than anyone else. Her appearance did mark her as a bit of a foreigner, although Louise didn't notice it until now. But the slightly tanner skin and dark hair caused a faint whisper and tingling at the back of her mind. The brand recognized her for some reason.

"You are aware of your position now, are you not?" Siesta held in her tongue and nodded, "No doubt you blame for your circumstances now. Don't bother hiding it," She suggested when Siesta was about to reply, "I didn't really mean for you to get blamed, but there's nothing we can do about it now, I suppose. At this moment I expect the headmaster to be preparing the papers for my expulsion and sending a letter to my family. Knowing my mother I would be either disowned or killed for breaking the school rules and killing another noble. My mother hates those who break the rules."

Siesta remained quiet.

"What would you say if I offered you a way out?" Siesta nearly laughed at the suggestion. That was impossible, "I'm not joking here. I'll have to leave the school before the day ends, but I'm willing to take you with me if you want. You have nowhere else to go and I have my own reasons for needing another person to go with me. What do you say?"

"But...but what about-"

"Your family?" Louise interrupted, "It'll be better for them if you leave. Right now you're indirectly responsible for the death of a noble and I'm the one who killed Guiche. If we leave together then all the blame will be solely on us; they'll think we just colluded with one another and ran way, so they won't question whether our families were involved at all. If you stay here then you face hanging, with your family if General Gramont is feeling particularly angry."

Siesta bit her lip so hard she thought she would draw blood. She had no idea if Ms. Valliere's logic made sense or if she was pulling things out of the ether, but staying her definitely posed a risk to her family. She had no other choice.

"Yes...I'll go with you..."

Louise's smile widened and she suddenly grabbed Siesta left hand with her branded hand in a tight hold, "Hold still. This won't take long. Louise closed her eyes and copied what her dreams had told her. If she was a viable recipient, then this would work. If not then she might get killed or get nothing at all.

"Aah!" Siesta closed her eyes in pain as she felt what seemed like a searing hot knife piercing the flesh of her hand. She saw the brand, its shape similar to Miss. Valliere's, slowly form in her hand as if they were being carved into her. Louise observed the shaping casually. The brand the maid received wasn't as ornate as hers or as detailed, but what interested her were three runes that were also carved into her unlikely companion's hand. If she got her translations correctly, the runes translated to 'Gan'. Strange, it seemed cut off.

"What...what did you do?" Siesta raised her hand and observed the mark Louise had given her. The pain had dulled into a throb by now.

"You'll thank me later," Louise answered with a smile, "Pack your things and be ready to meet in the gate in one hour. We have a long journey ahead of us."

* * *

**Note that, like Dishonored, there are people who will be immune to some of her powers even if they aren't gifted by the Outsider. Void Mages and maybe their Familiars, for example, are likely immune to time stop or possession since they have their own set of unique powers. Doesn't mean they're immune to getting stabbed or exploded, though :/  
**

**Anyway, as I said before, I'll most likely take a break till 'Brigmore Witches' comes out. The Evil!Louise segments has her modeled after Delilah, after all. So for people asking about the Whalers: Not sure about the Good path, but Louise makes her own version of a the Brigmore Witch Coven similar to Delilah in the Evil path. And yes, Evil Louise being more competent is on purpose. It wouldn't make for a very good story if she attempted to be evil and lost since her power control stinks. Louise ends up as the bad guy/Villain Protagonist in this path, so someone else will have to play as the foil to her. I already have a plan in mind...and its not an OC. The Outsider gives his blessing to people he considers interesting, and her actions in the evil path indirectly lead to said person becoming interesting.**

**Kakera - Blink isn't teleporting; you clearly can't go past walls or teleport behind them. That and Good!Louise can't use her powers very well. She'll get better later.**

**Feral Wolfskin - Maybe for Good!Louise. Evil!Louise uses magic most of the time and lets others do the shivving for her unless she needs to do it for some reason.**

**Necrofantasia - Don't act so uptight about it. They're brats, but I doubt they would laugh if she got hurt or committed suicide out of grief. Louise isn't a saint or a devil; she's a human being. Guiche doesn't deserve to be eaten by rats. Slapped around or hurt, maybe. Eaten alive by rats, definitely not.**


	4. Omake

**I just finished my second playthrough of Dishonored - finally getting 'Shadow', 'Ghost' and 'Clean Hands' - and I have to say that the idea of Corvo liberating a city in the span of a week while not killing any guards at all is pretty damn hilarious. Ah well, I thought I might as well write a snippet for 'Evil!Louise' on her quest to cause chaos and gain power. Nothing else to do right now anyway.**

**This is more of an Omake than anything else, so there's a half in half chance that this won't happen at all in the High Chaos storyline. This chapter is mostly for answering questions and determining where the story goes. So PLEASE read the ending Author notes and check where you want this story to go.  
**

**Power set:**

**Good!Louise:**

**Blink II  
**

**Dark Vision II**

**Possession II**

**Bend Time II**

**Windblast II**

**Vitality II**

**Agility II  
**

**Blood Thirsty II - Only used when absolutely necessary.**

**Evil Louise:**

**Transversal - Blink's replacement. Harder to use, but range is way higher.**

**Void Gaze II - Replaces Dark Vision.**

**Bend Time II**

**Summon Ally - Replaces Devouring Swarm later on.**

**Vitality II**

**Agility II**

**Shadow Kill II - Only applies to Void magic, however. If she stabs someone instead the body is left behind, though she can still use a spell to make them disappear.**

**Arcane Bond II**

* * *

Louise crouched down quickly as the sentry turned around at the sound of her feet hitting a loose cobble. She hid behind the tower's wall, "Damn it all..." She shook her head and sighed before drawing her wand. She didn't want to waste any willpower on killing guards she could avoid. This job was far too important and she couldn't afford to waste too much time, lest her new ally decided that their treaty wasn't worth it. She needed this. She was far too close to success and, though their reasons didn't align, their goals certainly did.

She took a calming breath before striking, "Explosion," The words came out as a whisper. The guard - who was actually a Paladin if his uniform was to be believed - didn't even have time to scream before he was engulfed in a bright light and turned to ash. She watched the dark substance fall into the ground slowly before frowning. While the skill itself was very much useful, she couldn't help but dislike the smell of smoke and ash every time another life ended at the hands of her magic. Killing with a sword was enough to negate it, but then that left a body and it was always best to ensure that no one was left behind.

Except for now. Her hand drifted over to her side where her dagger was sheathed. The weapon was small and almost never used, but it was of a fine make and could kill a man with just one or two quick stabs. She'd been doing this for months now: Killing people for others or for herself, either for coin or to protect her own position. Her control of Henrietta was constantly being investigated and she had to kill quite a few people in order to keep the puppet strings afloat - Cardinal Mazarin, Imperial Messenger Mott and many others. Though they had their own faults, they were loyal to Tristain and would no doubt dislike her actions if they found out she was the reason for Henrietta's strange behavior.

But today was different. She eyed the rooftop before envisioning herself there. She felt herself floating before she re-appeared at her destination in a puff of dark dust. While 'Transveral' was a much harder spell to use, it didn't change the fact that it was also far more effective than the primitive 'Blink' power she had started out with. She heard the soft sounds of displaced air and quickly found three figures standing next to her; a bunch of masked mercenaries that she had given a drop of her powers to. While they weren't as strong as her even on her worst days, they served the task of being distraction and fodder whenever she needed it. And today she would need it for the task at hand.

She was going to assassinate the Pope of Romalia.

Her hands tightened their grip on her dark cloak and she adjusted her theater mask again; a sign of slight nervousness. She had killed many before, but this would be the first time she killed someone of such high renown and importance. But to gain what she wanted to she needed to make a treaty with Gallia - Its king, Joseph, was the true leader of Reconquista and with him on her side then she would have both Albion and Gallia as her allies in whatever endeavors she planned. Joseph told her to kill Pope Vittorio Severare and when asked for his reason he claimed only that he wondered if the panic and chaos Romalia would devolve to at the loss of their religious leader might give even him slight pause.

It mattered little to her. He was a madman, but he was a madman with a country that had the power to destroy Tristain and her power over everything. She had her own reasons for it: According to the intelligence gathered by his Familiar, Sheffield, the Pope was one of the four Void Mages and that today he would be meeting the final one - Some Half-Elf they had somehow managed to find and drag here. She cared little for either the Pope or Joseph - The former mostly because she would no doubt be branded a heretic for her new powers - but she wanted to ally with all four Void Mages. And she sincerely doubted the Pope of a city dedicated to purging those and others like her would ally with her.

So she would assassinate the Pope and then take the Half-Elf with her to see if she could convince her to join her side. If not then she would kill her and wait for the signs of the next Void Mage. She walked over to edge of the roof before kneeling down. The Pope was visiting the open gardens, meaning it was the perfect chance to- Hold on, there was somebody else entering.

Julio smiled at Tiffania as he led her gently through the gardens doorway. Her expression, previously one of trepidation and fear, lit up in wonder as she caught sight of the sunset tinged view and the beautiful flowers dotting the greenery around her. Of course, this was why his master chose this place: He needed to make the Void Mage trust her, and the visions he'd seen from the scrying told him that she was a gentle and kind soul. Brute forcing her to their cause certainly wouldn't work and she was the key; the one who would summon the 'Heart of God' and ensure the success of their cause.

"Amazing~" She looked around her, the hood covering her head nearly coming off at her excited spinning. He understood her wonder; all her life she hid either in a mistress' house or a small house in the woods. His mind drifted back to the orphans that were with her and he rubbed his slightly reddened cheek. It didn't hurt, but one of the more protective kids had attempted to attack him. He had to make sure to keep Azzurro calm since the Wind Dragon interpreted the defense as a lethal attempt at his life. Right now both the dragon and the orphans were elsewhere. His master requested to talk to her alone.

"Welcome, Miss. Tiffania," Vittorio turned to them and gave a welcoming smile, causing the half-elf to try to smile back in return, "I trust you're wondering why we brought you here. But first I would like to tell you that the orphans you brought with you will be well cared for. Our church advocates the helping of those in need and it would be a sin for us to ignore their plight. I only ask that you listen to what I have to say and consider out request. You are important, Miss. Tiffania, more than you know."

"Y-Yes. Its the least I could do since you're being so gracious." She bowed as politely as she could.

Louise scowled as the Half-Elf finished her bow. She and the Pope were in one location, which was a boon for her, but the bodyguard was another thing entirely. Joseph told her about the Pope's Familiar, but she had expected the two Void Mages to be alone so she could do her mission in peace. Killing the Pope would be much harder to do if his Familiar was halfway competent in fighting beyond relying on the animals that his power granted him over. She needed to test something.

She raised two fingers before pointing at the open garden.

Tiffania looked past the Pope's shoulders as she saw what looked to be dark dust appearing and disappearing in the air. The very next second she saw cloaked figures crouching, their faces covered in various masks, "Um, Your Holiness? What are people doing on the roof?"

"The roof-"

"Your Holiness, look out!" Julio drew his sword and blocked the knife that was intended for his master, "Stay back!" He pushed back the cloaked assassin before drawing his pistol and firing. The bullet hit, sending the masked figure back and falling through the garden's edge. He threw the pistol away before drawing another; reloading would be too slow and there could have been more than one.

His prediction came true when another figure appeared out of nowhere to his left. Swallowing his surprise as the figure used what appeared to be teleportation, he fired the flintlock again before charging at the assassin and stabbing him in the stomach. He struggled briefly against the blade before he finally went limp, the life leaving his body. Julio pushed the larger male away before breathing a few panicked breaths. Who were they? Assassins? But the power of teleportation they used was nothing like he had even seen before.

"Julio," Vittorio called out to him, "Are you well?"

He looked down at his hands and grimaced slightly. His white priest robe had been stained with the assassin's blood, but apart from that he was well and couldn't complain.

Louise's scowl deepened as she saw the two mercenaries' lives end. No doubt Joseph would blame her for that, but she had bigger problems. Silencing the Pope without witnesses would be far harder now that she had to contend with an able fighter. How could...wait, she had an idea. She raised one finger at the remaining mercenary before pointing it at Julio. The masked figure clenched his left hand before nodding at her. She didn't need to kill him, just distract him long enough till she could take the Pope's life and kidnap the Half-Elf.

And if she couldn't do it without witnesses, then she could make somebody else take the blame. With her second sight she could see a group of Paladins making their way up the gardens. She had to do this fast.

Julio was about to sheath his blade before another figure appeared in front of him again. He prepared to change at him before he felt himself being lifted into the air painfully and his arms bound by the earth beneath him. Tentacles, made from the earth itself, bound his arms and legs and covered his mouth to keep him from shouting for Azzuro or any other assistance.

Louise appeared quickly. The Pope's eyes widened ever so slightly at her appearance before she drove a dagger through his stomach, "No!" Tiffania rushed forward to try and stop her, but she was quickly held back by the assassin keeping Julio suspended. Louise eyed the bodies of the two dead would-be assassins before muttering her explosion spell, turning them into ash. Now no one would see what had been done.

"Lets go." She commanded. The assassin nodded at her request before disappearing in a puff of dust, Tiffania disappearing with him. Julio crashed into the ground painfully, his forehead hitting against the stone and starting to bleed heavily from the impact. Louise looked down at the pathetic priest and smirked before leaving the gardens. She could already see the Paladins close to the door, and they would see no one but the body of their dead Pope and the bloody priest.

"Your Holiness!" He crawled forward his master's prone body, ignoring the blood trickling down his forehead and into his eyes, "Your Holiness, please hold on! I'll-"

"Stop," Vittorio gave a strained gasp, "Julio...you must find Tiffania...and whoever will succeed me..."He coughed as his vision began to fade, "My life matters little...so long as our goal succeeds. Find all the fragments and...finish our task..." His body went limp as the void finally took him. Julio's eyes widened and he shook his master's dead body frantically. No, this wasn't right. His master had made plans for everything. He wouldn't just die here and let all the planning go to naught.

A burst of pain forced Julio to close his eyes. He could feel the runes in his hand dissipating at his master's death. The power that he had been granted faded right before his eyes.

"Your Holiness! What is- My God!" The Paladin leading the squad gasped as he came upon the scene. The Pope dead with no one around him but his most trusted confidant. He looked around the area quickly and found no trace of anyone else. All he could see was Julio, cradling the Pope's corpse in his bloody hands.

"Guards! Restrain him!" Julio looked up in surprise and didn't get the chance to resist before two guards held his arms to the side. The one who gave the order, the head Paladin Carlo, walked towards him slowly with a gaze that dripped of hatred, "Did you do this, Chesare?" It was the only conclusion he could come up with. Save for some piles of ash that were likely just dust blown in from the other buildings, he was the only one there and the only one close enough to be able to do this.

"No...it was..." Carlo smashed the side of his face with his steel gauntlet before grabbing at the sword laying on his sheath. His eyes widened and his scowl deepened as he saw the blood covering Julio's sword. The blood of the assassins he had fought against to protect His Holiness, but neither Carlo or anyone else would ever know that. All that was left of them was ash.

"I knew it..." He threw the sword away in disgust, "Our scriptures told us never to trust one who bore the mark of twin moons, and yet the Pope chose to trust you as his personal confidant. He looked away, unable to even look at the 'traitor', "Your will burn at the stake for this, you heretic! Your soul will burn for eternity for the grave sin you have committed!" He looked to the guards holding Julio, "Take him away from here! Don't let him desecrate this place any more than he already has!"

Julio didn't get the chance to explain before he found himself losing consciousness.

...The Outsider stirred from his deep boredom. This scene was familiar to him, but was he interesting enough like Corvo was? He doubted it, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

* * *

**Likely I'll never use it seeing as its a complete Dishonored canon re-hash, but meh. Its here if anyone wants to read.**

**Feral Wolfskin - Never really thought about the heart, since I can't imagine Louise carting it around with her.  
**

**Rickmer - Its not large enough to be its own story - There'll be multiple time skips and only the interesting bits are shown, so its more like a bunch of snippets. Powers are above.**

**SyQadelic - I already said she has them all unlocked. She's just not that good in using it.**

**Necrofantasia - Uh...no. Daud and the Royal Torturer/Morris Sullivan can resist, and they're human albeit gifted. So its not just spirits immune to possession and please don't act like its fact. This is a crossover, so rules have to be adjusted.**

**LunaticPandora1 - Those rats can't be tamed; the only person who they followed was Granny, and you know she's insane. That and they have the plague, this is shown in the 'Tales of Dunwall' story, so one bite and she spreads an epidemic. Not gonna happen.**

**Oh, and to anyone who wants vote/comment on it: **

**Now I don't know where to take the Dishonored fic :/ I could make a canon rehash with the exception that Louise has superpowers and no Familiar. I could also not have Henrietta send Louise to Albion, meaning she sends Wardes alone and the letter gets shown to Germania . Needless to say: Treaty's off, no Deus Ex Machina explosion from Louise since she was forced to go home, and Reconquista dominates Tristain while capturing Henrietta and some of the other royal family. Romalia is forced to remain neutral and Gallia doesn't do jack, so Tristain is essentially alone and without Germania's aid. Many nobles such as Karin wish to fight back, but the overwhelming majority are for a peace treaty in order to keep their lands and the Duke la Valliere signs one as well since he doesn't think fighting a war while your country's being ravaged is a good idea and will just end with them getting trampled to the ground.**

** From there it works as more of a Dishonored canon re-hash: None of the nobles can fight openly, and there aren't any assassins with enough natural skill to get past the guards/mages in order to strike at the key targets, so they need someone with skills Mages aren't used to fighting: And Louise is the only one with the brand :/ Characters can work as well: Colbert is basically the Halk equivalent of Piero, for example. Ditto Emily with Henrietta or Empress Jessamine with Queen Marianne.**

** Assassination targets/Reconquista rebellion leaders thought up so far:**

** Menvil - Takes the academy hostage as in canon to force most of the nobles into being cowed lest they get second thoughts about submitting.**

** Wardes and Fouquet - These two come as a pair since they're the two most competent Mages in Reconquista.  
**

**Richmon - Henrietta's corrupt treasurer and one of the most accessible target who actually knows where she's being held post-capture. Interrogating him is crucial to finding Henrietta's location. **

** Tabitha - Possibly, if Joseph forces her to fight. Can likely be coerced to join Louise's side if Tabitha's mother is rescued.**

** Cromwell - Reconquista's figurehead. His death/incapacitation would lead to a massive morale drop among all of Reconquista's forces.**

** Isabella - Joins in on her father's scheme, mostly because she's bored. Leader of the Gallian knights and black ops, meaning she's the second hardest target to get to. Provided one gets to her, however, she's easy to kill or incapacitate.**

** Joseph and Sheffield - Masterminds behind Reconquista. Since the two are inseparable, its likely they have to be killed all at once.**

** Allies/Loyalists:**

** Colbert - Technical genius and the main intelligence of the group. Able to create machinery for Louise in case she needs to distract opponents due to being outnumbered or outgunned.**

** Henrietta and Marianne - The main royal family. Their survival is critical else Reconquista truly wins.**

** Scarron, Jessica and Siesta - The Charming Fairies in is the base; no one would ever suspect the medieval hooters.**

** Julio Chesare and Vittorio Severare - Ally with Louise since they need Joseph and Sheffield gone and another Void user to manifest. Vittorio can't publicly support, so he sends his Familiar as a gesture of good faith. Julio's one of the more useful allies due to being Windalfr and the only one apart from Agnes who takes part in field work with Louise.**

** Cardinal Mazarin - Loyal to the royal family and Tristain's independence. Founded the group and forms most of the plans.**

** Valliere family - Indirectly since they can't be seen fighting. Louise is known as a magicless girl so no one would suspect her.**

** Wales of Albion - Assuming he survives, he's a good ally since he's the last of the Tudors and the only one who can challenge Cromwell legitimately.**

**Count Mott - While he may be a creep, he's a _loyal_ creep with many ties due to his status as the Imperial Messenger. Helps subvert guard patrols during certain missions **

** Agnes Chevalier de Milan - She's unfortunately alone since not all of the musketeers are as loyal to Henrietta on a personal level. Helps Louise train with a sword should the need arise. Can take part in field work provided the situation calls for it.  
**

** Temporary allies:**

** Guiche, Malicorne, Gimli, Reynard and the rest of the academy staff - Help Louise during Menvil's hostage situation.**

** Kirche - Helps Louise in saving Tabitha mother, provided the situation calls for it. **

** Tiffania - Tries to coerce Louise into not fighting Fouquet. With enough persuasion, its possible to convince Fouquet to just leave without a fight, leaving just Wardes to be dealt with.**

** Did I miss anyone? I don't know how to do non-lethal takedowns for these people yet, though, so if anyone has suggestions then feel free to add. Decide if we do a ZNT type story or a Dishonored type story.  
**


	5. Chapter 4

**Here's another snippet. Alright, so I'm going to make the first divergence from canon: The Fouquet arc isn't shown here. Now while some of you might complain, take note of the fact that Fouquet is an assassination target and that at the time she does the robbery Louise could barely 'Blink', let alone use her other powers effectively. **

**So even if she does try to fight against Fouquet, she's going to do bugger all and fail in actually impeding her beyond some slight annoyance. That and Fouquet kinda needed Louise's explosion to break the wall quickly enough so that she has time to loot before the others arrive. Without it she can still break down the door, but not before the staff arrive to pacify her. So the arc fails before it even starts since she doesn't have enough time and, unlike canon, the teachers aren't a bunch of morons who leave the sacred vault with no guard.**

**Oh, and the Evil story will be short: It's mostly set-up and any updates I'll do from now on won't have Evil story segments until Brigmore Witches comes out so we can get more of a glimpse on the Coven and Delilah's personality. **

**Long authors note in the end.**

* * *

**Good story:**

"Concentrate..."

Louise took a deep breath as she clenched her fist, preparing herself for any pain that she might inflict on herself. As soon as she unclenched her fist, she felt a whoosh of air surrounding her before she abruptly skidded to a halt as her head made contact with he wall, "Oww..." She scowled and rubbed her forehead, already feeling her new-found healing power mending her injuries. While some might have called it demonic or heretical, she had to admit that the power was extremely convenient considering the numerous scrapes and bruises she tended to accumulate nowadays.

"Again," She turned to the other side of the room and quickly repeated her actions from before. Another burst of air and she found herself nearly colliding with her mirror as she appeared in front of it, "...Better than before..." She mumbled to herself. She didn't hit against anything this time, though she had no doubt that she had just gotten lucky rather than the fact that her skills had improved. It happened from time to time when she tried to master this new set of abnormal magic that may or may not have been given to her by a demon in her dreams.

Her mother would kill her if she found out her daughter was gifted powers by some supernatural Dark God.

"I need to get better at this," She told herself again. Ever since she had gotten these powers she had spent all of her free time in her room or in an abandoned part of the field behind the school trying to figure out the extent of her capabilities. So far she had found herself capable of travelling at insane speeds, being able to summon miniature gusts of wind strong enough to break trees, the ability to heal herself of recent injuries, being able to see through some second vision every time she closed her eyes and, oddly enough, the ability to jump twice in air.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror and sighed as she spotted the dark bags under her eyes. Sleeping had become difficult ever since she had received her 'Second Sight' (As she liked to call it). Closing her eyes to sleep had a good chance of leaving her awake and staring through the walls since her new powers decided then and there to suddenly activate. So she had to contend with staying in bed for at least a couple of hours every night before exhaustion finally won out and she managed to fall asleep.

Of course, that didn't mean she was safe in her dreams. Every night she dreamed of being back in that void, of being surrounded by its alien structures and rules. She fell a lot, but she continued to appear safe and sound just as she was sure she was going to die. She saw the frozen figures of the ones closest to her: Her sister coughing as her disease worsened, her mother and father talking about Brimir knew what, Princess Henrietta being scolded by Cardinal Mazarin for one reason or another, Eleanor doing research at the academia and many others. Every night the images were different, but they were always there.

Exhausted, she walked over to her bed and plopped down face first on it, not even bothering to close her eyes since she already knew the results of such an act. Sleep would elude her tonight, just like it did every night for the past week. She was tempted to spend her allowance on those miracle sleep tonics or even beg Montmorency the Flood to make one for her, but she decided to deal with it on her own. If she wanted to control these powers then she needed to do it without taking shortcuts or easy solutions.

School life for her had improved ever so slightly ever since she had gotten these powers. While there were numerous rumors about why had no Familiar to her name, nobody called her a Zero now ever since that incident with Malicorne. The tubby noble thought that making fun of her lack of a Familiar was a good idea and she had, unintentionally of course, blasted him with a small tornado that broke one of his arms and a couple of his ribs. While the teachers chastised her and told her off, she could tell that all of them - save for Old Osmond and Professor Colbert - were surprised that the 'Zero' had actually managed a spell. Not only that, but a wandless spell at that. It was a skill she had seen only her mother perform.

Nobody bothered her ever since that day. While before they were content to deride and ridicule her, now they did their best to ignore her and hope that they wouldn't be the next of her 'victims'. ...Well, all except that Zerbst woman. She didn't know whether to be relieved or annoyed at the fact that Kirche continued to harass her. The idealistic part of her mind was glad that there was at least one person paying attention to her, but the cynical side told her off for feeling glad a the company of one of her family's sworn enemies.

Still, she had to admit the being ignored was a long way better than being ridiculed. No longer did she have to hear their jeers every time she went to the library or them 'accidentally' spilling their food on her because they knew she couldn't fight back. She also ate her food alone now, but that didn't bother her so much since it gave her time to think. Kirche (and Tabitha since she tended to follow Kirche) sometimes joined her, but she had given up on acknowledging either of them since they (or rather Kirche) ignored her warnings to stay away from her under threat of being blasted by wind.

Nothing interesting happened in the days that followed. There was one incident where a maid was caught with Guiche's perfume or some other such nonsense, but she paid no attention to it. The maid had gotten fired since she insisted that Guiche was the one to give it to her, but it was her word over Guiche's and she was forced to pack her bags and leave since fighting a duel with Guiche was obviously out of her league. Louise felt a slight pity for her: She was pretty sure Guiche was lying about her stealing it from him. But still, it didn't concern her.

There was also one incident where the infamous thief Fouquet tried to steal some kind of artifact from the sacred vault, but he or she was stopped when some of the teachers arrived to pacify the situation. She grabbed one of her larger pillows and hugged it tightly, trying to relieve her frustration. The Familiar fair was coming and she couldn't even join in. She had no Familiar to call her own and, while she could repeat the ritual if she wanted, she was afraid of summoning something even worse out of the portal. Next thing she knew she'd summon an assassin sent to kill the queen or something.

The headmaster sent a letter explaining her newfound element to her family. She'd received their replies a day ago: Cattleya was ecstatic and her letters were filled with nothing except about how proud she was of her and how she always knew that she would receive her element as soon as she kept working at it. Eleanor's reply was shorter, but she did remark that she would have to stop calling her 'Zero' and wrote that, in her own roundabout way, she was glad that she no longer had a sister that was a burden on the family.

But it was her parent's reactions that she waited for the most. Her father was aloof about it, but he did mention that he always expected her to take after her mother and even sent her some extra allowance to spend on whatever she wanted as a sort of reward for her new achievements. She was glad that the pseudo-teleportation she received was close enough to a speed boost granted to Mages. It really made her appear as if she was a Wind Mage.

Her mother's reply was what surprised her, however. She knew her mother loved her, but rare was the time she could ever show it. She pushed them all to their limits, with the possible exception of Cattleya given the sickness that corrupted her. She couldn't recall a recent memory where she saw her mother smiling at anything or anyone.

Her reply was a simple congratulations and a package that had been sent for her. When she unwrapped it she had nearly yelled in surprise at the sight of the silver rapier that was packaged inside. Another family heirloom from her mother's old days, but the sword-wand was in such good condition that you couldn't be blamed for thinking that it was a newly commissioned work. A preservation spell had been cast on it and her mother's additions ensured that it was as light as a feather so that she could swing it without incurring any difficulty.

Many female nobles would have found being gifted with a rapier to be odd or to be a joke, but she could do nothing but smile. Her mother let her actions determine her more than her words, so gifting this rapier to her was tantamount to receiving a hug. Granted she had no idea how to use a sword well, but she wasn't going to let that get her down. She would continue to make her mother proud and prove herself worthy of using the weapon she had used to save Tristain from Eustace's attempted coup.

A knocking on her door snapped her out of her reverie. Without missing a beat, she scrambled to her desk and began to search for her gloves. Professor Colbert had suggested to her that she should wear gloves in order to try and hide the brand she now wielded. Her eyes stared at the reddish-brown gold embroidered gloves and she found herself giving a nostalgic smile. When she had first shown signs of not being able to use magic, her mother had made sure to give her other skills in exchange: Sewing, horseback riding, some light poetry and many other skills a bride to be would find useful. At one point she had tried to teach her about swordsmanship and even gave her these gloves - which she claimed she herself used when she was younger - to protect her hands from the strain.

Another light knock resounded, "I'm coming," She put on the gloves quickly before making her way to the door, closing her eyes briefly to see if she could make out who was on the other side. The golden figure on the other side was dressed in a fancy dress of fine make, but covered herself in a thick cloak that would have obstructed her features almost completely if Louise didn't have her second sight activated. Who was she? Louise wasn't expecting anyone to come meet her tonight. She silently sighed in relief at the fact that she had locked her door. She didn't need anyone to see her practicing.

"Who is-" She never got to finish her sentence. As soon as she opened the door she found herself practically smothered as the person crashed into her and closed the door behind her quickly. Her first instinct was to 'Blink' away with her second being the desire to blast the intruder with a large torrent of wind. She would later be glad she didn't do either of these when she recognized the voice talking to her.

"Louise! It's been far too long!" She would recognize that voice from anywhere. Her eyes widened in recognition and she found her lips curving into a smile as she realized that the 'intruder' wasn't tackling her so much as trying to hug her.

"P-Princess Henrietta!" Louise quickly returned the hug before she separated herself from the princess, "Wh-What brings you here at this time? Is-Is there something wrong?" She questioned, panicked. That might have been an odd thing to say to a friend she hadn't seen in a few years, but the dreams she'd been receiving from her mysterious benefactor had made her slightly paranoid. At times she saw Princess Henrietta crying as she read some kind of letter or her praying while covered in dark clothing. It scared her to think that her friend was in danger.

"Danger? Of course not," Henrietta smiled and shook her head in refusal, "I just wanted to see you. It's been three years now and we never got a chance to see each other ever since mother's birthday at Ragdorian lake. I missed you," She looked away and frowned, "Or is it that I'm bothering you? Forgive me. I was excited to see you and never thought that you might have been preoccupied."

"Of-Of course not!" Louise denied immediately, "I...I just didn't think that the princess would remember me after so long. It has been three years and when we last spoke it was when you had to visit Prince Wales."

"Of course I would remember you," Henrietta assured, taking hold of Louise's hands in her own, "You're my closest friend, Louise, and I'll never forget everything you've done for me at great risk to yourself. When you acted as my decoy three years ago your parents would have punished you and you didn't even hesitate to go along with my selfish request."

"It...It wasn't that much," She blushed at the compliments the soon to be queen was heaping on her. It wasn't like she did much; all she had to do was cover herself in a blanket and not make any noise while the princess went to see her beloved. The worst she could say was that it was hot and that she wasn't allowed to expose any part of her body lest she get caught. But that really didn't bother her since she was helping out her closest (and on some days she would say only) friend.

"U-Um, why is the princess here?" Louise found it in her to ask. Why would the princess come here? Did she need help with another perilous task? But she didn't know what she could do to help her. Certainly she had alien magic empowering her now, but the princess didn't know that and, though she she wished she could, she had no plans to tell her. While she doubted that Henrietta would betray her, she was watched carefully by Cardinal Mazarin and she doubted a candidate to be one of Romalia's pope would let her branding slide.

"Do I need a reason to see a friend?" Henrietta replied lightly, "We arrived early since the Familiar fair is tomorrow and we hoped to avoid danger by coming in during the night. Speaking of which, where is your Familiar?" She looked around excitedly, "If it's you then I have no doubt that you summoned something truly majestic and befitting of yourself. Where is it now?"

"Um..." Louise stepped back and started tapping a her foot against the floor awkwardly, "Well...I don't have one," Henrietta remained silent, though her mouth did open slightly in a soft gasp, "I-I can explain! Y-You see, I was-"

"Louise, please calm yourself," Henrietta raised her hands in a gesture to try and placate her, "I'm sure you have your own reasons as to why you don't have a Familiar right now. As I'm also sure there's a good reason for your fatigue," Louise immediately tried to hide the bags behind her fingers, "Please don't act ashamed. You have your own reasons and I won't pry into them. Just please tell me if you're preoccupied or if you wish to rest. I don't want to bother you."

Bother her? Impossible, "No, princess, I'm not busy right now nor do I wish to sleep," She gave a slight smile, "Actually, your presence here is helping me. I find myself unable to sleep due to...many reasons and talking to someone might calm me down."

"Truly? I am not bothering you?" Louise nodded, "I am glad. I was hoping to find someone to talk to and the cardinal wouldn't be my first choice," She stuck her tongue out, causing Louise to laugh at the sudden gesture, "The cardinal is pushing for the marriage to Germania's emperor and Reconquista's attack on Albion has caused him no small amount of stress to him." She frowned, "I sent the prince a letter that, if it were to go public, would destroy any chance for a treaty. Neither the cardinal or my mother are aware of this, but if they were then..." She trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

"...My apologies," She was well-aware of how Princess Henrietta was to be wed to the king of that upstart country and she could only imagine how she was feeling with the news that her her beloved was only a hairs breath away from death, "If it pleases you, I could go to Albion. I could blend in and even if I get caught I'm a noble belonging to the Valliere family, so they would be hesitant to execute me."

"No, I could never ask that of you," Henrietta replied, "Fear not: I sent for Viscount Wardes to retrieve the letter. You are aware of who he is, yes? The leader of the Griffon Knights," And her fiance, though Louise kept quiet on that, "I believe that he's more than capable enough to retrieve the letter and, if it comes to it, save prince Wales should the need arise. Besides, what kind of friend would I be if I sent you on such a dangerous task? I could never live with myself."

Louise opened her mouth to retort before she closed it shut. The princess didn't know of her new powers and she couldn't risk telling her. Would she even believe her? Henrietta was always a believer in fantasy and she could no doubt explain away her new powers as simply being gifted in multiple elements or being some kind of hidden prodigy like a main character in a fairy tale. It wouldn't even surprise her if Henrietta decided then and there that she was a Void Mage or some other fantastical explanation. She was always a bit idealistic and a believer in miracles

"But please, let us not talk about that now. I came here to talk and spend time with you, not discuss politics and other troublesome things."

"As you wish, princess," Louise breathed a calming sigh and smiled at her. She was right. Viscount Wardes was strong enough to get that letter back by himself and his high position was earned only through putting his life at risk for Tristain, meaning he must have been very loyal and devoted to their motherland. She had no doubt that he could handle it himself.

She would later come to regret thinking that when news of Reconquista's victory resounded and Henrietta's letter was made public.

* * *

**Evil story:**

Cardinal Mazarin was worried.

Now this wasn't saying a lot; he'd been worried ever since he had to take over after King Henry's death and Queen Marianne's refusal to take the throne. The war with Albion had only made things worse - The princess became unresponsive at times and, at his continuous prompting, she had told him that Prince Wales held a letter that would spell doom for their alliance with Germania. She refused to speak of the letter's contents, but it still worried him since any risk to the treaty would mean that they would be alone should Reconquista try to attack them. It was only a matter of time till they retook Albion.

And then one day...she had changed. One morning she had greeted them all and told them in no uncertain terms that she was going to accept her role as queen. Both he and Queen Marianne were surprised at the news, but they didn't oppose her since it was her right and she had been groomed since a young age to rule since she doubted Germania's king would leave his own palace to come live in Tristain. It was the perfect treaty: Henrietta would gain free rule of her kingdom and Albrecht the III would support the country with his troops.

This plan completely fell apart when she decided one day to cancel the marriage and make a treaty with the newly crowned king of Albion, Oliver Cromwell. He had objected, quite obviously, but she had pointed out that Albercht III was hardly a noble himself and that Albion's air-troops would be far more beneficial compared to the commoner army of Germania. While a part of him agreed with that, he was completely surprised that the princess would ally with the one who murdered her cousins and uncle.

Things became hard after that. While many of the commoners could care less about who Tristain allied with and none of them shed any tears for the Tudor family, many nobles in particular held grievances against her for siding with a country of heretics. Count Mott was one of the first to complain, stating that the princess was making a mistake and that they had no guarantee that Albion wouldn't betray them and depose the nobility in the country as well. Mazarin was well aware that he only complained because of the danger to his own position and nothing else.

He and everyone in his estate were later found being eaten alive by rats.

The second one to complain was Duchess Desmarais, the owner of many countries one Tristain's western lands. She claimed the Reconquista was already demanding things of her and that she would secede from the crown if they continued to ally. Mazarin worried for her: Her husband had died early and she had inherited the land, something many of the vassals and minor lords in her lands hated her for. He had no doubt that if anyone helped them depose her then they would earn their loyalty.

She was found dead a few days after the threat was made. Her personal servant described her to act as if she was suddenly possessed before she suddenly jumped from the building. A case of suicide, as everybody would later claim. The Lord who had inherited the position, a fellow by the name of Morel, would later swear fealty to the crown and promised that he would be eternally loyal.

The third to make an attempt to rebel against her was the Grand Duke of Guldenhorf, Philippe d'Albert von Guldenhorf. He was the leader of the Grand Duchy of Guldenhorf and was technically an independent country from Tristain, despite its smaller size and shared landmass. He claimed that as an independent country he had no need to follow Henrietta's rule and so Albion's attempts to make him offer a plot of land was against the law.

He and his daughter Beatrice were found dead a week later, their bodies being found in the bottom of the lake after having drowned the night they disappeared. Officially it was called a double suicide, but rumors of it being a murder were still abound. And without the grand duke and the princess, Henrietta took it upon herself to annex the the Grand Duchy of Guldenhorf and officially turn it as a part of Tristain.

The cardinal was at his wit's end. By all accounts Henrietta was the most suspicious, but he couldn't imagine the reluctant queen ever doing anything like this. Besides this fact, she hadn't left the castle at all and all the knights and secret forces confirmed that they hadn't left either. So she had to have used followers she amassed on her own and were personally loyal only to her. He doubted she was capable of such a thing.

He was interrupted by a knock on his door. Now who could that be?

In her room, Henrietta smiled as she brushed her hair, her reflection smiling back at her. At her side she could see Siesta, the personal maid she had hired not too long ago to serve as both her servant and her companion. Her fingers grasped at her hair before she smiling, breathing a relieved sigh as the screams began to stop echoing in her head. She was always so bothersome. She should be glad after everything she did for her.

"When pretty Henrietta woke one day  
She saw the world a different way  
Her eyes now looked with a stranger's guile  
Her dainty mouth smiled a stranger's smile  
Her hands now worked the strangers wrath  
Her feet now walked a stranger's path  
Henrietta fed, another grew stronger.  
The stranger's cravings drew her onward  
And no one who looked in Henrietta's face  
Ever guessed who ruled in Henrietta's place"

She recited the poem clearly, and with every word she felt the presence inside her diminish till the screaming vanished. Oh, she was still screaming, but nobody could hear her now. She stood up from her seat and adjusted the crown on her head. It fit her very well: Queen of Tristain and allied with both Albion and, unknown to everyone else, Gallia. Romalia was forced to remain neutral and Germania would soon fall to her hands. Everything was going perfectly.

"She's quiet now," She mumbled to herself. Siesta bowed and smiled in response, eliciting a giggle from her, "I thought they would catch on at first, but the only one who suspects is that Cardinal. Siesta, be a dear and take care of him, will you? He's been sniffing around too much and I'm afraid he'll catch on," She paused before continuing, "Make it look like an accident if possible."

"Of course," With one final bow, Siesta left the room to do her mistress' bidding. It was only after Siesta left the room did the voice start screaming again, telling her that she was a monster and that she should call Siesta back. She responded by reciting the poem again and ignoring the voice as it continued to wail and rebel against her will. Really, why was she so indignant? She could have had her entire being destroyed and yet she chose to be merciful and let her watch rather than kill her outright: A favor considering their old friendship. And yet she did nothing but scream and try to fight against her. So ungrateful.

Louise sighed. Maybe she should just end her...no, her friend would understand. She raised a gloved hand and covered her eyes, letting her other sight overtake her briefly before she smiled. Siesta was on her way and the Cardinal didn't suspect a thing. Henrietta begged again, telling her to stop and that the cardinal didn't have to die. She recited the poem one last time and giggled as the voice faded from her mind. Finally she could get some rest after dealing with those rebellious nobles and her childhood friend's pitiful resistance.

Possessing her was hard at first, but eventually she had taken control and Henrietta was locked in her mind and could only watch as Louise set her plan into motion. She tried to hold her back at every turn, but she ignored her old friend's warnings and continued with her plan. Silencing her was as easy as reciting a few lines, but she always did find a way to come back and try to retake control. She felt bad for her; she didn't know that she was too late and that it would always fail. The only way for her to regain control was if Louise let her, and she certainly had no plans for that.

"Well then, why don't we see Wales now?" She spoke aloud, "I heard that he's still alive as some kind of political prisoner. I don't know the specifics, but I think he'll be glad to see you...or should I say me?" No reply came, of course, "I wonder how he'll react when he finds out I made a treaty with Albion and Gallia. He'll never know what really happened and I have no plans to tell him. You could do so if you want, but I wonder if you're capable," She was aware she was being pointlessly cruel, but she considered it her right. Did she have any idea how annoying it got whenever she tried to retake control? It gave her headaches. Maybe this would teach her.

From her prison, Henrietta screamed.

* * *

**Another chapter done. Time to answer some reviews.**

**Necrofantasia - Nope: Joseph and Sheffield are leagues above her. Hell, even Menvil's stronger than her since he was capable of beating both her and Kirche together. She's good, but not as good as the fans make her out to be.**

**Poliamida - Isabella didn't join because she found out her father was cruel; she joined because Tabitha forgave her despite having all the power at that moment and she honestly felt humbled. She doesn't care if Joseph is cruel: She's very cruel herself. She plays with her servant's lives and makes Tabitha's life hell for no reason other than petty jealousy. So the Convent excuse won't work.**

**Oh, and I'm very well aware of the Black Ops - Daphne and Amethyst (The two Vampires you mentioned) show up in both 'Twisted Reflections' and 'The Princess and her Knight' as side-characters. The problem being that the group is a _resistance_, not a government sanctioned movement. The resistance members joined because they're loyal to the crown rather than the country, which usually isn't the case for black ops: In modern terms would be like if they were loyal to the president rather than the country he ruled. **

**They might make appearances since they're friends of the Valliere's, but straight up fighting is impossible since they kinda need to retain their positions on fear of being burned alive as firstborns. It's literally the only thing keeping them from being hunted down, so it would be really bad if Louise asked them to fight with her. Agnes herself already quit her position just to help Henrietta, but she has nothing much to lose since she never really cared about her position beyond the fact that it would help her get revenge. Without Henrietta that position is pointless since no one else is willing to help her. **

**Lunatic Pandora1 - Transversal is different: You imagine the location rather than needing line of sight. The only reason Daud doesn't use it is because it would break the game if you can go anywhere at the push of a button. That and, story-wise, Daud probably doesn't need it since he's so good. **

**Feral Wolfskin - I'll think about it, but those would make her too strong. She needs to retain some vulnerability.**

**Trilonias - Bidashal is part of Joseph's non-lethal solution. **

**Mastermind - Osmond is part of academy staff :/ And who's gonna arrest them? Reconquista controls everything, so if anybody important to them got arrested they would just spring them out with a snap of the finger. And where is Louise gonna find slavers willing to enslave a noble of high position? Or rather, where would she find slavers to begin with? No one in her group is acquainted with them - And if you say Mott I'm going to facepalm since he didn't enslave Siesta: He bought her contract legally.**

**Unkown - No, sorry. What could I do to make it unique? If I make Tsukune a marked one then its basically the same as all the other 'Tsukune is somehow badass from the start' fics. Summoning Corvo or Daud is also pointless since they wouldn't care enough to get involved. Reverse summoning works, but the Outsider wouldn't do that and it would be massively OOC for him to do things so directly. So I have to refuse on the grounds that the fic would be a re-hash of every other fic in that archive.**

**And I'm not a fic maker who does things just because people tell me to. So if anyone else wants to try and suggest fics for me to write, please just stop now. I'm not really taking requests for new stories.**

**In case anyone's confused about the equivalents for the main good guys for the good story or bad guys for the evil story:**

**Good story:**

**Good!Louise - Low Chaos Daud. Her weaponry and skills match more with Daud than Corvo since she's not a combat adept and focuses more on stealth with sprinklings of magic. **

**Henrietta de Tristain - Emily Kaldwin**

**Marianne de Tristain - Jessamine Kaldwin**

**Colbert - Piero**

**Count Mott -Traevor Pendleton**

**Cardinal Mazarin - Farley Havelock**

**Julio Chesare - Teague Martin**

**Scarron - Wallace. Except he's not a jerk. At all.**

**Jessica - Lydia**

**Siesta - Cecelia**

**Agnes Chevalier de Milan - Geoff Curnow**

**Wales Tudor - Callista Curnow. Jokes about opposite gender aside, Wales is Henrietta's most important emotional support next to Louise and her mother. Same with Callista and Emily.**

**Evil story 'heroes' (Will be updated when Brigmore Witches comes out):  
**

**Evil!Louise - Delilah Cooperson**

**Julio Chesare (If he's used) - Low-Mid Chaos!Corvo. While some might complain about his inclusion, Julio's probably the only person with the skillset that can match Louise and who has motivation to go after her regardless of her morality. It really depends on who everyone wants to win: Louise wins and Julio dies, and vice-versa. I know at least one of you going to wish for Evil!Louise to die once you see her actions here. Julio's no saint, but he looks marginally better compared to her.  
**

**Cromwell - High Overseer Campbell**

**Joseph of Gallia - Hiram Burrows**

**Isabella - Lady Boyle. Minus the mistress part. **

**Siesta - Halkeginian Brigmore Witch**

**Tabitha - Daud**


	6. Chapter 5

**No Evil!Louise segment for now. After this is another time-skip to where Louise is already doing her job as a wannabe-assassin/troubleshooter.**

* * *

**Good story:**

News of Reconquista's victory was made public just a week after the Familiar festival. Oliver Cromwell had defeated the army of James Tudor and fashioned himself as Albion's new king, claiming that it was his divine right as the wielder of the Void and that it was his duty to 'purge' those who didn't have the strength to stand under his rule. Obviously this was met with anger and indignation by many of the nobles with many immediately clamoring for the crown to take action and declare war against the farce of a rebellion that dared to place a priest where a noble family should be.

While the nobles grieved for the Tudor's and the loss against an upstart rebellion, most of the commoners couldn't care less about their predicament. After all, would anything really change for them? They lived under the rule of nobles who used their magic to place themselves above them. If the nobles lost then they would deal with a priest who put himself into power, which wasn't much different if one really thought about it. Some of the more idealistic ones even thought that things would go better compared to before. After all, he was was a priest was he not? Surely he understood the hardships of being a commoner.

A noble, but ultimately foolish notion.

Of course, things changed after the princess' letter was made public. Many of the nobles who clamored for war had done so with the assurance that Germania's army would be right there with them to provide assistance. The letter, which was for the most part just a plain love letter, was the winch that drove them apart. While the royal family was quick to deny it and claim that Reconquista forged it, the doubt was just enough for King Albrecht III to cancel the engagement on the grounds that he couldn't, in good faith, marry a princess who might have been cheating on him just prior to the engagement.

Right...bloody upstart savages.

The way the letter came about also cast doubt on the claim that Reconquista forged it. Viscount Jean-Jaques Wardes came back from Albion and, rather than bring the letter back to the princess, he gave it instead to the head of judicial affairs, Francis Richmon. When pressed on this he claimed that his loyalty was to the country first and to the royal family second, and that he believed that the head of judicial affairs would handle it better than the teenage princess did. Given that he made sure to spread the letter immediately after he got it, Louise doubted that the situation was handled with any amount of care.

Without Germania's aid the clamors for war ceased. Albion had an army of at least fifty thousand, which wasn't even counting their air fleet of dragon riders and the fleet Reconquista amassed from the fights with the royal family. Tristain had barely half that number, and many of those were either mercenaries for hire (and therefore not loyal) or old soldiers that had more use as fodder and instructors than actual infantry. Tristain fighting a war by themselves was tantamount to committing suicide.

Things changed after that. Cromwell was quick to make a treaty with Tristain and claimed that, despite the overwhelming advantage he had, he wouldn't crush them all like ants under his boot despite being more than capable of doing so. In exchange for not doing so he made a treaty that simply claimed that he wanted to be involved in Tristain's affairs and that he expected the country to cooperate with him. He later added that he had no plans to conquer any of the other countries (yet...) and that Tristain wouldn't have to worry about betraying their beliefs by being forced to sack Romalia or invade the stronger Germania.

All of the noble families immediatey took action in response to this. Many agreed with the treaty, eager to keep their power and unwilling to fight a hopeless war against a foe they knew they had no chance to win against. Some refused to bow to what they considered a tyrant and they were mercilessly brought to heel by the rebellion's stronger forces. What could they expect when they tried to fight a war by themselves and without the aid of their fellow countrymen? Soon all the families that hoped to rebel disappeared and all hope for fighting openly was lost.

Many of the students from the academy of magic had been recalled to their homes, Louise included. The foreign students like Kirche or Tabitha had gone back to their home countries, no doubt because their families didn't want them to be involved in another country's war. Some of the more influential nobles also came to take their sons and daughters back, unwilling to keep them in a school of dubious security when they thought they had a better chance of protecting their heirs. Louise, being of the prestigious Valliere family, was called back quickly after her family signed the treaty.

She hated it. The treaty had made her family more distant. Her mother and father's relationship had become strained after he made the decision to sign the treaty, an action which she disagreed with him on heavily. Despite trading her armor for a dress, the duchess was no Gallian wallflower and she would've fought to her dying breath again Albion's new regime. He refused, claiming that while he loved his country he wouldn't have his daughters die needlessly just to prove a point to her fellow nobles. He was already dubious about going to war even with Germania's aid, and now that they stood alone in this endeavor he knew for a fact that it was hopeless.

They had no other allies. Gallia had claimed neutrality and, as a church state, Romalia was only dutifully bound by Brimiric law to not interfere with wars so long as they weren't the ones being attacked. The royal family was in no position to bargain now ever since the 'mysterious disappearance' of the queen, the princess and even the cardinal. In their absence many of the nobles loyal to Reconquista had formed a council with some noble lord of ill repute taking his place as the Regent in their absence.

Right, a 'mysterious disappearance'. Louise seethed: They had kidnapped the royal family and the cardinal to ensure they would have no one to oppose their rule. Princess Henrietta had barely managed to escape being arrested for bigamy only by the fact that nobody could prove without a doubt that it wasn't a forgery. But now it didn't matter because she was likely trapped in a tower somewhere, caged so she couldn't take her rightful place on the throne. Her heart wept for her. She wanted to help her, no matter what.

"Louise, are you alright?" Cattleya asked, worried. Her father and mother were busy with other things right now and Eleanor was still doing research in Academia. She hadn't been called back since the academy of research she was currently working in was in Romalia, meaning that it was actually far safer there compared to their home here. Right now it was just the two of them eating in the dining hall; she had asked the servants to give them some privacy.

"...I'm fine," Louise replied, stabbing into the meat on her plate with much more force than necessary. Eating had become hard in the recent days, and it wasn't just because she was forced to continue wearing the gloves for fear of her family thinking her brand was a sign of heresy - They questioned her on it at first before deciding it wasn't worth the trouble. Her father had become more and more adamant that she marry. She scowled - He wanted her to marry Viscount Wardes, but she refused. She would never marry that **traitor**. She'd rather die.

"Is something troubling you?" Cattleya ventured to ask again as Louise continued to stab into her plate with barely contained rage, "You've been quiet ever since news of the princess' disappearance," She saw her younger sister's grip on the knife tighten and her hand shake before she pursed her lips. She frowned; the princess' disappearance hit Louise harder than most of them. She was close to the princess on a personal level, unlike the rest of the family.

She wasn't the only one, however.

When news of Queen Marianne's disappearance reached them, she could tell that their mother had changed. She had grown colder in recent days and barely ever spoke a word to her husband or her children. Cattleya saw the anger and sadness in her eyes, she could see all the small signs that her mother was being affected by the loss of the woman who was not only her queen but also a close friend. But she would never show it; she had to be strong for her family and she couldn't afford to show any weakness.

Louise stared down hatefully at the meat on her plate as if it was the source of all her problems. Three months had passed since she'd arrived here and she was being taught all the things that might make her a good wife: Sewing, household management, horseback riding, history and many other things. Her father wanted her to marry the Viscount not only because he perceived it would make her happy but also because he wanted to keep her safe. The Viscount was close to their new council and his regent, so she would be safe from any political machinations that happened.

But she would never marry him. She wasn't as fragile as her family liked to think - She spent every waking moment she had free practicing with her new powers or trying to contact the mysterious entity that called himself 'the Outsider' in the hopes that he would be able to help her. While the latter failed since he seemed to find no reason to appear before her, her control over her new abilities had gotten stronger in the past months.

Her second sight had evolved in a way. She was capable of controlling when and where she would activate it and it only took a single blink to use rather than her having to close her eyes and leave herself vulnerable. Her 'Blink' power had also gotten stronger, allowing her to traverse farther distances and she never lost her footing or collided into anything anymore. Her ability to possess living beings also became stronger: Before she could barely control a mouse and threw up afterwards, but now she was capable of possessing an ant (Though getting stepped on was always a fear) and even one of her sister's tigers without losing momentum.

She'd also asked her mother for sword fighting lessons. While she was surprised at first at her odd query, she nevertheless humored her request and agreed to teach her on the promise that she wouldn't complain or try to find a way to back out since she was the one pushing the request forward. She agreed, and after many lessons she found her mother's bequeathed rapier in her hand feeling normal. She'd mostly discarded her old wand in favor of the new foci, though she still kept it with her just in case.

The dreams still haunted her, however. They were different every time they appeared, but similar in many ways: Always still images of multiple figures, some she knew and others she didn't know: She saw her would be fiance poring over a book, Miss. Longueville talking to some Elf and a scarred mercenary who laughed as fire engulfed his victims; she didn't know how they related to her, but they must have in some way if the Outsider deemed it necessary to show her. But there were figures she could immediately recognize: Tabitha kneeling in front of a blue haired girl wearing a crown or Princess Henrietta huddled in an unknown room, suppressing her tears.

Every day she spent here just made her and more angry. She needed to leave, she needed to save her friend. She didn't have the power to fight back against overwhelming odds like her mother nor did she have the political clout of her father, but she had something else: She was a relative unknown. Her oldest sister was a well known researcher, her mother was the duchess (and, in the past, the 'Heavy Wind'), her second oldest sister was the head of her own house and her father was the head of the Valliere family. If any of them were caught then the entire Valliere land would suffer.

But who was she? Up until recently she was the 'Zero', and her place in the decadent court of politics was also zero. If she were caught then her family would be safe: They could simply disown her and claim that she ran away, which she was going to do anyway so it wouldn't even be a lie. She was the youngest daughter who many of the older nobles wouldn't even look at. They couldn't afford to fight directly but her new skills would allow her to stab from behind, to stay in the shadows while the enemies of her friends and family wondered who was opposing them.

Her family would be safe. Big sis Catt would be safe, her father would retain his position and her mother...well, she didn't plan to tell her. She took a deep breath and steeled herself, "...I'm finished," She stood up from her seat and began to make her way to her room. She didn't want to hear Cattleya trying to stop her; she would hesitate then and then she'd be back to square one. She needed to do this before she hesitated again, before she changed her mind and let her friend suffer even a day longer than she already had.

"Louise..." Cattleya moved to try and stop her before she stopped. Louise had been frustrated for the past few weeks and she doubted that anything she could say would stop it now. With a tired smile, she clasped her hands together and prayed for the success of whatever her sister would do.

In her room, Louise began packing hastily, trying to suppress the tears of frustration that threatened to leak out of her eyes. Once she left she doubted she could ever come back: What would she say to her family even if she did succeed what essentially amounted to a suicide mission? For all they knew she was simply running away to escape her arranged marriage like the noblewomen from those fantasy novels those commoners loved to hawk about.

"No, can't bring this..." Her eyebrows creased as she removed the dress from the satchel before she sighed in frustration. She needed to travel light and appear as if she wasn't a noblewoman, which meant that she couldn't afford to bring any of her fancy dresses or other parts of her noble lifestyle. Her eyes searched around her cabinet quickly before she found the bag of Ecu she had been saving. This wouldn't be enough to last her forever, but the allowance would sustain her for a while and allow her to buy the essentials and any supplies she needed.

What supplies would she need? Food would have to be bought on any small towns she passed; she couldn't afford to weigh down her satchel by placing piles of food next to her clothes and other supplies. She did make sure to get two waterskins (one with wine and the other with clean water), but that was actually necessary for her since they were light and wouldn't weigh her down. Her mother's rapier would be attacked to her scabbard belt and...and...damn it, this was harder to do than she thought.

This was a foolish idea: What was she expecting to do by herself and with no aid? This wasn't a fantasy where she was leading a resistance against the evil nobility: She was a single girl, albeit empowered, fighting against a veritable army composed of both commoners and Mages with no one to count on by herself and any aid she could find on this mad quest.

The sound of the door opening caused her to snap the satchel shut and turn to face the door...and nearly fainted as she realized that it was her mother standing on the doorway, a wand in one hand and a large box in the other, "H-H-Honored mother, what brings you here?" She made sure to keep the satchel behind her, but the way Karin stared at her made it quite evident that her efforts were for naught. Did she find out she planned to run away? No, impossible: She told no one, not even big sis Catt, and only started packing tonight so she could finish it in one go.

"Daughter, what are you doing?" She walked into the room and closed the door behind her. Louise cursed; there went her one way out where she was guaranteed not to break her legs from the impact.

She considered lying ever so briefly before she crushed the thought. While her mother hated rulebreakers, what she hated much more were liars. If you told the truth you at least showed that you were willing to accept your actions and take responsibility for them. Liars tried to deflect responsibility and refused to own up to their mistakes. She couldn't lie here.

"I'm...I'm going to save Princess Henrietta..." Her mother raised an eyebrow, urging her to continue, "Mother, you and I both know that the disappearance of the queen and the princess is no mere accident. It happened only after all the noble families signed the treaty, ensuring that no one could fight back against this new regime they put up. The longer we wait the longer the royal family suffers and the closer our country becomes to falling under Reconquista's heel. If we don't act we may as well be giving them the noose they'll use to hang us with."

"Be that as it may-"

"I know it's against the treaty's terms," Louise interrupted, surprising herself. She had never interrupted her mother before, "I know that's why you can't fight and I know father knows it's a farce as well. But mother, this treaty won't shield us forever. Once they gain enough power they'll come at our doors and demand our absolute fealty. If we refuse they'll take our land and depose us, if they don't just kill us outright."

She seen it in one of her latest dreams: Oliver Cromwell sitting at a table with a robed woman standing by his side. At the table in front of him there were names, names of nobles that they planned to subjugate either by coercion or by force. Her family's name was one of them, along with a few others she recognized like the Montmorency family or the Gramonts. They were targets and using the treaty as a shield wouldn't save them forever. If they didn't act then they were doomed.

"Then what do you plan to do?" Karin asked neutrally, "The treaty forbids us from fighting and we do not have the power to stand against the combined might of Albion's forces and the forces of Tristain loyal to them," She had taken on many things in her tenure as the Captain of the Manticore Knights: Germanian platoons, fire dragons, giant scorpions, Undead and many others. But to fight against a whole country...that was madness, plain and simple, "Rescuing Princess Henrietta will be all for naught unless Reconquista is stopped."

"I know that" Louise sighed, "I know that...but, I can't just sit here pretending to believe things will end up okay if I cover my ears," She gulped. She needed to tell her, "Mother, you may think that I've awakened to the element of wind, but that isn't true. These powers...they're far more than the element of wind you think I've been blessed with..." Her mother's lack of a reaction caused her eyes to narrow, "And you knew...didn't you? You knew that it wasn't wind magic."

"I've had my suspicions," She replied, her tone remaining completely blank at Louise's accusatory stare, "You may not have been aware of it, but your hand glowed whenever you became focused during our swordfighting lessons. I could see it even through the gloves," Louise grabbed her left hand out of instinct, "The brand is something I don't recognize, but I trust that I've raised you well enough that you wouldn't consort with demons on the chance that they will grant you power. So tell me, what is it?"

"...You wouldn't believe me."

"I've seen a lot of things, Louise," Karin assured, "Even before becoming the Captain of the Manticore Knights I saw things that most had never seen in their whole lives. So tell me your story and I'll decide whether it's too mired in fantasy to be true." Louise still looked doubtful, but her mother's piercing stare told her that she wasn't getting out of this without telling her or jumping out the window and breaking both her legs, even if she used 'Blink'.

And so Louise told her everything. From her failed attempt at summoning a Familiar to her meeting with the Outsider to her waking up with the brand in her hand. She even demonstrated the use of some of her powers, blinking from one side of the room to another or jumping twice in the air without the use of either her wand or the rapier to assist her. And through it all Karin's expression never changed, even when Louise made remarks about possessing animals or seeing people through walls.

"...It appears your stories are true," Karin finally spoke after Louise possessed a rat that had somehow made its way to her room and made it run around in circles, "Still, do you think that this is enough to aid you in your task? Impressive these powers may be, but you will be fighting against both powerful Mages and the people guarding them. You can't fight them all."

"I don't plan to fight my way through, Mother," Louise replied, somewhat tired from the display, "I can possess a rat and sneak into a hole or I can use this teleportation power to get to places only the strongest wind Mages can follow. I can't claim to be as strong as you, but I'd rather go out there and die trying to save Princess Henrietta than stay here and get married to that traitor who calls himself a loyal noble of Tristain.

"..." Karin was silent. Louise stood awkwardly as her mother as her mother continued to stare at her before she spoke again, "You have given some thought to this, haven't you?" She could only nod, "Louise, do you know the consequences of what will happen if you are caught? Your title will be stripped from your and our family will be forced to deny you. You are aware of this, yes?"

"I...I am aware," She answered resolutely, "But if we wait around doing nothing then all of our nobility will be stripped from us when Reconquista comes. I'll wear a mask or use dyes to conceal my appearance; anything to ensure that whatever I do won't be linked to our family and that no one else should suffer. If I'm caught then my life is forfeit. I accept that."

Another long moment of silence. Louise closed her eyes and expected her mother to punish her then and there, "Then you will need whatever aid is possible," She opened her eyes and could barely conceal her smile as she saw her mother nod, "Surely you do not expect to rescue the princess alone. No one man or woman can do everything alone."

"Then...what should I do?"

"Go to the capital and look for a place called the 'Charming Fairies Inn'. Once there look for a man called Scarron; he is an old acquaintance of mine. He will give you any aid that you seek and offer you shelter in a place where the city guards would never look," She pressed a slip of paper into her hands, "Show this to him and tell him that Karin sent you to find him. He will recognize the name. Trust no one else before you meet him and make sure to return to the inn if you're unsure of what to do. A solitary noble in the streets is a prime target now."

"Scarron..." She opened the paper and found a crude drawing of a Manticore on it. This was to be the signal? "Okay, I'll meet this Scarron when I arrive at the capital."

"You will also need this," Karin offered the box to her. Louise took it and stared in confusion at the contents: Clothes of various colors of white and blue were inside, "I expect that you didn't plan to do this grand plan of yours while wearing that dress," She pointed out, causing Louise to blush, "Wearing things such as chainmail will only impede you and make it harder to hide. Like the rapier, this uniform is what I used during my time as a knight. It will allow you free movement and and help disguise your gender should you need to speak to anyone."

Louise stared at the clothes again before nodding hesitantly. She wasn't one to question her mother's logic, but why did the lower parts look more like underwear than anything else? Well, if this was what males wore...

"And should you need further assistance, go to the castle's outer buildings and ask for Daphne and Amethyst. They are old friends of mine," She coughed awkwardly before continuing, "They can't help you openly, but they know more about the architecture and secrets of the capital than anyone else I know," She paused, "It is still not too late to stop, Louise. If you go now then there is no turning back." She warned one last time.

"Th-Thank you, mother!" Without even realizing it, Louise found her arms encircling her mother in a quick hug. Karin knitted her eyebrows uncomfortably before she returned the gesture, albeit much more hesitantly. The last time Louise had hugged her was ten years prior, "I'll-I'll get changed immediately and-"

"And I will tell Cattleya your goodbyes," Karin interrupted. Cattleya already seemed to know that her sister was planning to leave and she wished her luck She would need it. Louise looked sad for the briefest of moments before she nodded at Karin in return. She couldn't afford to say goodbye; she might hesitate again.

Once Karin left the room, Louise quickly changed into the uniform her mother had given her. Oddly enough, the uniform fit her almost perfectly despite the difference she expected. She moved her arm and legs to stretch out the fabric before grabbing for the hair tie at the bottom of the box. She needed to tie her hair to keep it from being in the way. Either that or cut it outright, but that would happen only if she was desperate.

With that done, she packed two changes of clothes before putting on the sword belt and the rapier. She stared at herself in the mirror: She could barely recognize herself. Looking out at her room one last time, she grabbed the satchel before making her way to the stables. There was already a horse waiting there for her. She silently thanked her mother before she began her ride out of the estate. There was no turning back now.

From the upper floors, Karin looked out the window and barely saw her daughter galloping past the drawbridge at full pelt. Ever so slightly, her lips curved up into a small smile.

* * *

**Before anyone complains: Karin's not Kratos. At some point some she'll be hit by a lucky spell or bullet and then everyone would just dogpile her with sheer numbers alone. So no, Karin taking on the army isn't going to happen at all. She's good, but she's not THAT good. Taking out the leaders is the only hope they have of toppling Reconquista.**

**Also, Louise's powers will 'evolve' the more she uses them: This can be seen with Daud's blink adding time stop or Evil!Louise allowing her to possess Henrietta with no time limit. Good!Louise gets this as well, mostly due to her Void Powers changing **

**Mastermind - Blunt, not dickish. I'd rather not sugarcoat when it comes to these things.**

**Feral Wolfskin - Sadly, no one can live up to the epic broness that is Samuel. That and Louise goes just about everywhere by horse, so it's not like she needs a guide. The closest one would be...Daphne, I guess? She acts as Louise's guide and is one of the most morally sound among the loyalists despite being a Vampire, especially in contrast to Julio (Completely loyal to a genocidal zealot) or Mott (Not that bad, but has a bit of a dirty mind).**

**Trilonias - We'll see. She can't spare every target.**

**lizonjoe - She cares about Henrietta in her own twisted way; it's the only thing stopping her from killing her outright.. Kind of like how Handsome Jack cares for Angel in Borderlands 2. **

**Yuri-Hime-Chan - And she can't be seen fighting or her family's boned. She's a strong frontline fighter, but killing all the mooks won't matter unless she offs the leader. And as good a soldier as she is, she never showed signs of being a good assassin.**


	7. Chapter 6

**No Evil!Louise segment again. While I did finish Brigmore Witches (Low Chaos :D) it doesn't do much for Delilah other than making her a power hungry psycho...and in a game where every antagonist is a power hungry psycho she's not really distinguishable apart from being a witch. I'll post about this at the end of the chapter. **

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Louise crouched down and looked to her destination carefully. Her position on the rooftops afforded her quite a view, but it also meant that if any of the higher sentries decided to look up then they would see her sticking out like a sore thumb. Narrowing her eyes at the sound of footsteps, she lowed her head went into a prone position, thanking Father Brimir above that the roof was straight rather than being in a tilted angle. Even her teleportation wouldn't have stopped her legs from being shattered on impact with the ground.

Ever so slowly, she pushed forward and looked down over the roof's edge. Two guards, low ranking knights by the look of them, and half drunk from some festivities if their slightly stilted walk was any indication. She'd have to wait for them to finish before making her move. She was tempted to just make an attempt to jump over them, but she held in the urge. She only had enough money to buy enough reagents for a few sleep darts so she had to be careful to avoid using them unless it was absolutely necessary. She didn't want to kill anyone unless they were baby eaters or Elves, and she doubted whether her new powers would help her that much for the latter.

"Think you'll get your own squad after what happened last night?" One asked.

"Chances are very good," His companion replied, his face breaking out into a smirk at the reminder of what happened the previous night. It took 12 men, more than a couple Fire Mages, a few gunshots and one destroyed building, but he believed wholeheartedly that he would receive the proper commendations after he managed to pull everyone out of there alive and capture the wanted fugitive. He almost thought that they would die then and there, but some quick thinking on his part meant that all of them survived...well, except Traevor, but no one liked him anyway.

Unfortunately, it seemed like they weren't willing to move. Louise bit her lower lip in frustration and did her best to ignore the cold wind that blew through the roof. Damn it, even after all this time her thighs still felt cold whenever nature decided to taunt her. Sighing, she raised her left hand and examined her portable wristbow. She only had about five sleep darts left and she had to waste two of them on drunken louts. She could always attempt to slow down time, but in her experience it was always hit or miss and almost half the time she ended up wasting her willpower for just two seconds of distorted movement.

She had to do this quickly.

"So you wanna gather for whiskey and cigars tonight-" His question was cut off as the sleeping bolt hit against his neck, causing him to immediately slump to the ground in heap. His friend barely had time to grab his sword before he found himself falling asleep as well. With a slight frown, Louise reloaded the weapon before deactivating the mechanisms again. Hopefully no one would find them before she finished here. Shame; guards weren't know for getting their own squads when they were found sleeping on the job.

She silently thanked the professors at the school and their lessons to her on sleeping potions. She thought for sure she would have to resort to attempting to choke people, which would have been disastrous given her luck of upper body strength and other silent magic. Granted the lack of syringes and expensive reagents made it hard, but she considered it worth the trouble if she could avoid needless bloodshed. These knights may have been serving a traitor, but they were just people doing their jobs. Just like the people who guarded her estate.

Although the weapon was slightly hard to use, she had to admit. While it did give her a way to knock people out and administer bolts with sleeping potion, the device was large on her small wrist and activating the gears and mechanisms that powered it tended to be slightly difficult. This wasn't even mentioning how hard it was to aim at moving targets or difficulty when it came to reloading whenever she panicked. Hopefully she could find someone to modify it.

With that done, she went back to her scouting, "Open window...but I can't tell if there's a guard there..." She flexed her left hand and her vision became dyed in a golden hue. Through the walls she saw no one, but she didn't lower her guard even for a second. She unsheathed her sword before stepping back slightly, "Hopefully this works," With a deep breath, she ran to the edge of the roof and jumped. She felt the air hit against her before she found herself being pressing forward and barely making it to the open window.

"...I hate doing that..." She stood up shakily and looked around quickly. No one was there and no one had heard her enter; good, this make this much easier.

The room she was in looked to be an exquisite study: Shelves full of books, a roaring fireplace, a large desk with a fancy chair in the center and various other refined furniture. She took a deep breath, just letting herself relax for a moment, before she focused again on the task at hand. The one who owned this house...she would shed no tears if he died, but killing him would solve nothing and just end with possibly making someone being thought of as a victim and nothing more.

"Need to find it," She made her way to the desk and began to pilfer through all the letters and correspondence within. She didn't have much time to do this - If what Jessica told her was true then the captain of the guard was to start his talk soon and she only had so much time before she got caught breaking and entering. Brimir above knew she wouldn't be able to fight against experienced swordsman and expect to win even with her mother's training. The rapier was a last resort weapon and not much else.

The Royal Tax Collector, Turenne de Montferat: A bulbous weasel who considered himself far more important than he actually was. Rather than doing the sensible thing and keeping to his duties he wholly accepted Reconquista's demands and started taxing all the shops to near bankruptcy in order to sustain his lavish lifestyle. It caused her no small amount of irritation - Commoners served nobles, but nobles in turn protected and led the commoners. Abusing your position just to better yourself at the cost of others was despicable and she could never see herself doing it.

This included the Charming Fairies Inn. While this was bad enough, he also found it in him to constantly visit whenever it tickled his fancy; and his fancy was tickled a lot. So in addition to taxing the inn without paying for services, he could also break her disguise since the little sycophant was always trying to suck up to his betters, her family included. Though she was half-relieved that she was a relative unknown, the lower noble always tried to chat her up whenever he visited for his monthly collections. Apparently he thought currying her favor would help him get closer to the Vallieres. It didn't, but it never stopped him and it was one of the reasons she was relieved that she would go to school.

That was until they began to call her Zero- No, bad thoughts! She need to focus.

"Found it!" She whispered in glee. Carefully, she pulled out the concealed letter and examined it - A letter of immunity that stated that he was immune to paying taxes himself and being evicted by anyone so long as he stayed loyal to the new regime. It was despicable: He abused the new rights given to him and frequently evicted people to the streets in order to fill his own purse, whether they were low nobles or higher ranking commoners. Many of the people in the street cursed his name and wished for his death.

This would be just as good.

She rummaged in her back pocket and pulled out her own letter, replacing the paper within and resealing the envelope. She needed him dealt with, but it didn't mean that it had to end in his death. Scarron had, through means she wasn't aware of, managed to somehow get his hands on one of the stamps used by the palace for official documents. When pressed on it he just told her that people who were drunk tended to misplace things and that he kept it because he thought it was useful.

Whatever the case it was proving its use now. She had managed to falsify an official sounding letter that the house was to be evicted a month ago and, if her plan worked, she would show it to the guard captain without her having to lift a finger. It was a good thing the school taught her how to properly make documents and official decrees, else the letter might look suspect. She only had one chance at this before any investigations stopped and she would be forced to deal with him in a more direct manner.

Voices drifted into the room, "Well, Captain Henry, if you'll see this document then you'll understand that the acting Regent has blessed all of my lawful evictions," Louise shivered. His voice sounded as slimy as ever, "After all, the houses I emptied were filled with conspirators and traitors! Why, I do believe I've been merciful in letting them lose nothing but their possessions! They're still alive and now they're unable to enact their extreme plot to oust our acting leaders without their resources."

"And I suppose you taking all their wealth is just a coincidence," A gruff voice replied, "Our barracks have been filled with letters complaining about you being corrupt and unjustifiably taking belongings and lands without proper reason. Any criminals are to be judged and tried under the law of this land, not thrown out of their houses where they can run around unsupervised," There was a pause, "But we're not here to discuss law and justice affairs. If you show me this so called letter of immunity then I'll have to believe your claims. If not then...you know the consequences."

She stuffed the letter back where she found it before making her way to the open window again. A quick jump and 'blink' allowed her to make her way back to the roof adjacent to the building. Dusting herself off, she crouched down again and looked at the proceedings.

It started off cordial at first: Turenne offered the captain wine which he refused and then he showed him the letter. Once the captain actually read the contents of the letter, however, his already annoyed face turned scarlet in anger and he all but looked ready to stab the portly tax collector if he didn't surrender himself immediately for breaking the law and having the gall to flaunt it right in his face despite the notice being a month late. Turenne fainted, after a few seconds of inelegant blubbering.

She wished she could hear their proceedings, but her hearing wasn't so good that she could perfectly eavesdrop on their conversation from such a distance unless they were yelling. She watched the captain lift the tubby aristocrat up and drag him away with a small laugh. How had she gotten to this point? Where she would laugh like some crazed vigilante as she saw 'justice'. Closing her eyes briefly, she stood up before making her way through the rooftops again and back to her horse.

Her arrival a few days ago was still fresh in her mind.

* * *

It all started a few days ago, when she had finally arrived at the capital.

Louise couldn't help but smile as she saw the sign: The Charming Fairies Inn. She did it; it took her days of traveling from town to town and rationing her food, but she had successfully managed to bypass all the checkpoints and make her way to the capital. A lone noble was a target right now and she had no doubt that any caught in the wilderness would be taken and ransomed by either bandits looking for an easy job or guards loyal to that new regime. Avoiding the checkpoints and roadblocks proved difficult, but ultimately doable.

"This is the place?" She mumbled aloud. Certainly the exterior of the inn looked average, but her rational side told her that it was the point. No one would ever suspect that conspirators would lie in wait here and plotting their eventual downfall...well, conspirator, if she was being accurate. She was the only one who planned to do anything and she doubted that she could ask the innkeeper of this establishment to help her. He was (if he kept to his word) already going to shelter her. It was already night and she needed a place to sleep.

Ten minutes and over a dozen stares letter, and she was already beginning to regret staying here.

It was fine at first. When she first entered she was briefly surprised by the waitress...ahem, rather risque uniform, but she managed to disregard it. After all, she was wearing a male uniform and tied her hair up in order to appear more as a male. Disguising her gender wasn't critical, but it would help give her family and herself plausible deniability if they ever linked the conspirator to the Vallieres.

No, what bothered her was their staring. She shivered and moved about in her seat as another one of the waitresses once again ogled her back as she passed by. Disguising her gender was all well and good, but this constant staring and looking was beginning to make her feel uncomfortable.

Despite the warm feeling of the interior, she still felt herself shiver as she made to order a drink, "E-Excuse me. Can I have some milk please?" She called out politely, momentarily forgetting about even attempting to disguise her voice. The waitress looked at what, to her, seemed like a male with a really high voice. Shrugging, she ducked under the counter before pouring her a glass of milk.

"Thank you..." She picked up the milk and drank it slowly. While she might have gotten mocking stares for it, she had spent the past three days rationing out watered down wine or just plain water from her waterskins - Canteens were too heavy and the metal clanged against walls, as she found out early during her mother's sword training. If she wanted to avoid being detected then metal other than her sword had to be avoided unless she wanted to clang like a kitchen.

"Haaa," She put down the large mug she was given and wiped her lips. Milk usually wasn't her favorite choice, but after days of fruit juice laced wine and water she needed something else to stop her tongue from feeling stale.

A tap on her shoulder caused her to spin around and nearly let out a "meep" as what looked to be a bear wearing leather armor seemed to stare at her. At closer glance she could see that it was a human and not in fact a bear, but that didn't change the fact that he was as hairy as the larger animals and had a stare that she could have mistaken for a predator's glare. She gulped as she made out the pistol at his side. A mercenary? He didn't look like a guard.

"Wh-What is it?" She asked, this time lowering her voice in what she thought was a manly baritone. Of course it just sounded like a girl with a cough, but points for effort.

The man looked at her for a while before he...laughed, "Hah, a knight and still drinking milk? What's wrong, boy? Still suckling on your mother's teat?" Louise face became incredulous before it was quickly followed by anger. How-How dare this commoner insult her like that!? "Guess it's no surprise: She looks like she picked out your outfit for you, too!" This time another pair of bar patrons guffawed at the joke, causing the girl's temper to flare even more.

"You-You take that back, you smelly orc!" She bit back angrily, her voice going back to its natural sound halfway through her sentence. The man just laughed at what her perceived to be her voice cracking.

All around them the different customers and staff began to watch the drama unfolding. It was a common sight: Bernard always got drunk and ended up harassing whoever he found to be an easy target. At times he would pick the wrong target and bit off more than he could chew, but for the most part whoever he picked would get insulted and leave or start slinging back insults all through the night. It rarely ever devolved into violence, as no one wanted to deal with the...unique bouncer of the Charming Fairies Inn. He was scarier than two knights combined and no customer wanted to gain his attention.

This wasn't the case right now.

Louise seethed. This man was insulting both her and her mother, not to mention mocking her taste in beverages and clothing, "I said take it back!" She unsheathed her rapier and clumsily pointed it at him from her belt.

Immediately, all the laughing stopped; even Bernard looked sober as he saw the blade being pointed at him. Louise grinned in triumph, justifiably assuming that they were cowed by her threat and didn't expect her to be able to fight back against her much larger opponent. But something was wrong. The customers did look afraid, but they weren't looking at her so much as the door close to her seat on the bar. The waitresses were also muttering to themselves about how they didn't want to bother "Mi Madamoiselle" or something that Louise couldn't make out.

She soon found out what they were so afraid of.

"Oh! No, no no~" A voice that she could only describe as flamboyant reached her ears. Louise turned around and her eyes bugged out at the figure that came out. The first thing she could make out was purple: A light purple vest that was too short and clung way too tightly to the person's body and shorts that barely went past their buttocks. This was finished with a pair of strapping white boots that ultimately clashed with the rest of the attire. At least her own uniform was well coordinated and covered up all the important bits.

Louise blanched - That was the skimpiest outfit among all the waitresses and it wasn't even a girl wearing it. It was undoubtedly a male: Muscular arms, hairy arms and legs, short hair and a trimmed mustache that most nobles tended to sport, "Now what did I tell everyone about fighting in the Charming Fairies?" He called out, doing a coy pose that would have looked cute if one of the waitresses did it but ultimately horrifying considering his clothes and physique. She turned away and held in the urge to scream as she saw the...bulge between his pants become emphasized with his pose. The other male customers seemed to share her sentiment and mimicked her actions, some even outright puking out the alcohol they drank.

He was the best bouncer among all the bars here. Ultimately brute forcing problems out wouldn't help, so what one truly needed was the ability to turn away any miscreants and make them think fighting wasn't worth it and that they would be better off just leaving and not attempting anything. While he did act flamboyant, the muscles and large build made it very much clear that it didn't mean he was incapable of defending himself if anyone decided to make trouble.

Ultimately, his appearance did its job. All the bar patrons, save those who were already unconscious from drunkenness, stood up abruptly to leave, complaining about their mood being killed. While they could tolerate him, they always left when he ever caught someone breaking the rules of the inn. He never beat anyone up - he never had to - but he tended to make long lectures and he was always...animated whenever he talked about the inn's rules. And since none of them fancied getting nightmares they all made to leave.

Before she knew it, Louise found herself alone. Even the man taunting her had left to avoid getting lectured.

"Now, dear, put down that sword~" The mysterious male called out. Louise followed his command clumsily, although she had an odd feeling that the word 'sword' had two meanings given the way he emphasized it, "There, that's a good boy. Now can you tell me what you're doing here and why you were trying to fight dear old Bernard?"

"He-He started it!" She answered hotly, "He mocked my mother and made fun of me!"

"Oh dear, oh dear~" He swooned dramatically, causing Louise to once again avert her eyes in discomfort. Why were those damn shorts so tight? ...Not that she could say anything in that regard, but still...! "Ah, a knight whose had his honor insulted! Is there anything I can do to ease your pain?"

"N-Nevermind that!" She waved her arm quickly, "J-J-Just help me find someone here and I'll forget everything! My mother told me that a man called Scarron is here and that he'll help me. I'll assume that he's the innkeeper of this place? And if not, he must be a frequent customer if my mother told me to meet him here." She assumed she was safe just saying this publicly. It's likely her mother planned for her to stay in this inn, else she would have suggested meeting at another place. That meant that her mother trusted the owner and his workers.

"Well then you're in luck, dearie! I'm right here!" Louise was confused for just a brief moment before the words hit her like an earth spell. He was Scarron? "Oh, but dear me, your mother? I don't really know have much women that I keep in contact with. Let me see~" He observed Louise closely. That outfit was vaguely familiar, but it was a knight uniform so he couldn't place it entirely. Then there was the small stature and pink...of course!

"Oh, you're Karin's son!" Scarron announced excitedly. The other waitresses looked at each other confusedly; who was Karin? Was it someone their boss knew? "Oh, she never told me that she had a son! Oh dear, welcome, welcome! I bet she told you to show me a drawing right? That's just like her!" Louise was about to answer before she got interrupted, "Oh put that away, dearie~! Karin never told me she had a son; always mentioned three daughters, but never a son. But oh, let's stop talking here and come around the back! There are others who want to meet you, you know!"

"O-Others?" She asked hesitantly, sliding off her seat. She was vaguely annoyed about her gender being mistaken, but she pushed it down. At least she knew the disguise was working, "Mother never told me about anybody else being here."

"That's because she doesn't know," He answered back, "I was going to tell her, but that stiff old cardinal told me that 'We can't risk the letter being intercepted' or some other nonsense. But oh, I bet they'll be happy to meet you!" He placed his arm around her shoulder and all but dragged her to the back, "We've been looking for new people for a week now and this will be some good news~"

"R...Right," She could to nothing but nod numbly. He said cardinal, so could that possibly mean...well, anything was possible in these dark times. And assuming she wasn't being led into a trap it meant that she wasn't alone - She had allies that would help her and had a vested interest in helping her succeed in her goals. Maybe things were finally looking up for her.

"By the way, I know this is a bit off topic, but you're just my type!" He released his grip from her and swooned in place, both hands in his cheeks, "Kyaa! I can't believe I said that! Ah, but it's true! Pretty boys like you are so rare nowadays! Ah, but don't worry! You're Karin's son and I would never think of doing anything to my dear friend's child!"

Okay...maybe not.

* * *

**Alright, so while I wanted to avoid it, I really do need to give Evil!Louise an antagonist for her segments. Conflict makes a story, so without one it's pretty much just a slice of life with a sociopathic bent. The choices now are: Wales Tudor, Julio Chesare and Agnes Chevalier de Milan. Each have a good reason for attempting to stop her and all of them have backgrounds in knowing how to fight. So if anyone's interested, pick one. If not, ignore it. If you want no antagonist then give a suggestion on where to take the segments since I'm not really sure how interesting Louise being a tosser is with no conflict whatsoever.**

**Oh, and I still need a mask design :/ Right now I'm thinking of a smiling/frowning masquerade mask: Creepy, and yet average.**

**Time to answer some reviews:  
**

**Yuri-Hime-Chan - Nothing I've read indicates she's a good assassin. In the SS her one subterfuge ended with her on the chopping block. Later in life all her exploits are about her public heroics like monster hunting and army routing; I've never read anywhere that she's as good as you claim. I'm not disagreeing with you, but can you tell me where you got the idea that Karin's that good? Being a good soldier does not equal being a good spy/assassin. The fanbase has a bad habit of upgrading Karin and unless I see answers other than "She seems like she'd be good at it" or "They never said she couldn't do it" then I'm going to stay skeptical. She's not a Demi-God: What she's known for is her absurdly powerful spell and strict standards. **

**Feral Wolfskin - Not yet: Corvo wasn't immune to being poisoned and there's a good chance it's because he'd just been recently marked. In time she will, but not now. Also, she's not going to grab it on her own volition since she doesn't know she's a Void Mage yet. It's not useful to her and she has no reason to think it is.**

**Poliamida - Karin never struck me as the long arguing type: If your argument makes sense then she'll agree and help you. If it doesn't make sense then she won't care to hear you and just say no. Her argument made sense and so Karin agreed. Besides, what was stopping Louise from running away? She just proved she could possess mice and ants and teleport. If Karin disagreed then Louise would do it anyway. At least with assistance she has more of a chance.  
**

**RC1212 - Don't ask me; everyone argues about it in Spacebattles even up to now :p We know stockings and heeled boots were worn by nobility back then, but the shorts shorts and clingy top boggle the mind. Personally I just like to think that either everyone's blind or that those hotpants are magic. Louise also has a flat chest, so it helps her maintain her disguise.**

**Guest - Wow...I've seen some stupid things, but this is one of the worst. Yes, it was horrible for me to expect people reading a Dishonored/ZNT fanfic to be aware of the series. I should go to the Harry Potter archive and complain about them not doing pages of explanation for every character there! I can deal with people not liking my story, but not when people call it bad for essentially not being a wikipedia page.**

**You want the explanation? Read the damn novels and manga or watch the anime. This is a fanfic, not a re-write or anything else. Take that silver spoon out of your mouth and don't expect everything to be fed to you on a silver platter. When reading a fanfic it's assumed you know who these characters and what the world is since it's a fan story about the canon materials. This goes double for crossovers. So if you're just going to keep complaining then I suggest you move on.**

**Annara Ren - Sorry to hear that then. Fair tidings.**


	8. Chapter 7

**Next chapter up :D**

* * *

The warmth of the candlelight was the first thing that greeted Louise, which was quickly followed by the scent of dust and cheap wine permeating the air. Blinking, she looked around the darkened room and clenched her left hand into a fist. The dark room was immediately covered in a golden haze; the telltale sign of her second sight. She looked around again, her nose crinkling in disgust as she saw the old spiderwebs and other insects...along with the sleeping bats on the walls.

She immediately resisted the urge to scream at the sight of them. This was supposed to be her room for the coming days. She had told herself that she could deal with it, but a part of herself - the same part that told her even up to now that she was being stupid if she thought she even had the slightest chance of pulling this off - was already screaming in rage and demanding that she go to a better inn that didn't have spiderwebs and bats that looked like the wanted to bite her and drag her off to eat her alive.

"Damn it..." She walked over to the bed and collapsed face-first on it: An action she immediately regretted when she felt dust waft into her nose and down her throat. Argh, this was supposed to be her base of operations!? Often she had heard tales of unsung heroes using inconspicuous buildings before rising up and taking castles and chateaus to be their new sanctuary. Well, she thought as she looked around the dusty and small attic, she had a hard time believing that she would ever get a chance to go to chateaus haine with no money and nothing to her name save a rapier and some male clothing.

This wasn't even supposed to be a room. Dully, her eyes circled the room and glanced hatefully at the barely covered cabinets and other things that surrounded most of the room. This wasn't a room; it was a storage space. Her small fists grabbed at the blanket and she took a few deep breaths, pointedly ignoring the dust beginning to cake her hands at the rash action. She was to be a hidden operative, one of the few (if not only) people who even had a chance to save Princess Henrietta, and she was given a room that even some beggars would balk at. It was either they thought so little of her that they didn't think she warranted even a decent room or they thought she would die at the first mission alone and that redecorating was a waste a of time; neither interpretation particularly appeared to the noble...or former-noble, as the case stood.

The meeting was still fresh in her mind.

"And what do you propose we do, Mister Chesare?" Louise's hand paused just before it reached the doorknob. She recognized that voice: Cardinal Mazarin, "I worry for Princess Henrietta and Queen Marianne, but what you propose is...it's tantamount to suicide!" The statement was quickly followed by the sound of something breaking. The Cardinal must have been angry, "I appreciate the help His Eminence is offering by sending you to us, but your idea is far too risky to even consider."

"Her Lady Henrietta is out there right now, presumably captured by the new regime and being coerced - if not being tortured - for her allegiance so she can serve as a puppet queen," The one that replied was unfamiliar to her, "Queen Marianne has locked herself in her room and refuses to eat, drink or even sleep unless exhaustion takes her or she's force-fed. And when she isn't starving, thirsty or exhausted she's either praying to Founder Brimir or staring out of the window in a daze. Unless we get her daughter back she's useless at best and a disability at worst.

Louise took a deep breath before she forced the door open. Cardinal Mazarin was the first too look up at her, his expression going from barely suppressed anger at the insults to surprise at the new arrival. The one sitting across from him looked up at her, only showing a calm smile despite the harsh insults and facts he had pointed out not a second ago. Louise had to admit that she was surprised by the look of him - Handsome, almost effeminate in a way, and yet he wore the clothes of a priest. He looked more like he fit into the frilly clothing Guiche would wear or even a dress if his hair was just a bit longer. If she wasn't so distracted with her best friend's circumstances she might have even felt attracted to him, physically if nothing else.

Why oh why had she insisted that she wanted to do this alone? Sure the company of the flamboyant and likely homosexual man wasn't pleasant, but it would have been better than feeling like the actor of a failing play. How was she going to explain herself here.

"I assume Mister Scarron showed you the way in?" The priest(?) was the first to speak, "The only other explanation would be that you killed him and plan to kill us, but I expect the new King Cromwell would send an army to do that rather than a lad who looks like he barely passed knight training," His eyes looked her up and down, "Young as well, so I highly doubt that you were sent here with the task of rooting out any possible dissidents. So if you were sent to kill us I suspect that they expected you to fail."

"I'm not here to kill you," She replied in a somewhat clipped tone, "Scarron told me that Cardinal Mazarin and Queen Marianne managed to escape and that they and anyone loyal to the empire would be here," She said nothing more, but the way she looked around the area made it rather clear that she expected more than simply the cardinal and some unknown priest squatting in a barely lit room.

"Then you have found us," The Cardinal answered wearily, "Apart from Mister Chesare and I, there isn't much hope for the kingdom."

"Is...Is this it?" Of all the things she could have said - an explanation, a rebuke or even a denial - that was the first thing to pop in her head, "Scarron made it sound like...like there were more people here than just you two..."

"Come now, what did you expect?" Julio smiled cheekily at her, "This isn't a fairy tale where the band of heroes unite in order to stop the tyrant and save the princess," He leaned forward and clasped his hands together, "There are more people here than just the two of us, but I think you'll be disappointed by the numbers we pose. I myself am only here due to my master's orders and because I have my own goals. Miss. Agnes is out running an errand and is trying to convince her former group to join her, but I highly doubt that it will amount to anything since not everyone is as loyal to a personal level as she is."

"But-But this can't be it!" She yelled out suddenly, stamping her foot in frustration, "Aren't there any other nobles we can count on!? Or loyal guards and soldiers!? How could they stand idly by while their true rulers are being threatened by an upstart priest!? How could they live with themselves!?"

"Quite easily, actually," Julio shrugged, the smile never leaving his face, "Honor, loyalty, dying for the crown - It all sounds great in tales, but all those who tried to rebel and refuse to sign the treaty were crushed like bugs under Cromwell's army," He stared wistfully at the candle sitting on the table, "Loyalty doesn't feed families, and no one is willing to stand up and rebel when the king controls the funds and their family's livelihoods are being threatened. Or are you telling me that you expect them to place themselves and their family's lives against a rebellion that doesn't seriously affect them?"

"It still doesn't excuse them standing by when the royal family is in danger!" She replied hotly.

"They do not even know that the royal family is in danger," Mazarin commented weakly, "All they know is that we 'mysteriously disappeared' and that the regime is trying their best to search for us. In truth they tried to take us under cover of night and it's only because Princess Henrietta stayed back to lead them off our trail that I and Her Majesty managed to escape," He laughed bitterly, "We wouldn't even be here if Mr. Scarron didn't decide to hide us out of the kindness of his heart."

"So that's it, then? You plan to hide out in this dark room and let this heretical priest control the kingdom?"

"As opposed to what, exactly?" Julio answered for the Cardinal, "The new King controls the army and has access to all the secrets Tristain has locked up," His tapped his fingers on the table, "And that's not even getting to his power-base. Do you think killing him or ending the lives of a few soldiers is enough? There are successors, allies who are willing and eager to take his place if and when he falls. Soldiers are expendable to him and he can always start drafting, but if you want to fight an army of seventy thousand all at once then go ahead. His reach is far longer than the capital: It reaches from here to even the smallest villages on the border. If you want to topple the king then you must take down his pawns."

"But-"

"But we never said that we planned to do nothing," Julio cut her off, "Before you arrived I was just telling the Cardinal about a task I intend to do."

"And it is madness!" Mazarin cut in again, "What you plan to do is find one of the nobles who knows the princess' location and attempt to kidnap him," He rubbed his forehead and took a deep breath, "Mr. Chesare, I know you are skilled - he wouldn't have sent you here alone otherwise - but it's likely the one who knows her whereabouts is in a high position and kept watch by many guards to ensure his protection. I saw the dragon you rode, and I will tell you now that dragon or no you will not be able to take him so long as he is in his home or in a place where he can claim you to be a criminal."

"With all due respect-"

"I'll do it!" Louise blurted out before she realized what exactly she had volunteered to do, "I am already a pariah and no one will recognize me. I also have...skills that I believe will help with regards to staying undetected."

"And what skills would those be?" Julio asked with obvious doubt in his voice.

Rather than reply, Julio suddenly saw her disappear, "What-" Right before she appeared right in front of him. Louise looked up at him and smiled, her annoyance abating slightly at the sight of his eyes widening at the sight of her powers at work. She had wanted to surprise her mother as well, but true to her reputation her mother didn't even twitch when she saw her possess a mouse or 'blink' up to her ceiling. She was beginning to think no one would ever care for her skills.

"That's not a magic I've seen anywhere else," Julio commented lightly, backing away from her ever so slightly, "I will not ask how you came upon them, but I'll assume now that you have more than something that causes you to move quicker. Speed isn't our main concern here."

"My abilities are varied, that is true," She replied neutrally, "I could give a demonstration, if it pleases you," She also wanted to stretch out her limbs. She had gone two days without using her powers and she was tempted to 'blink' on the roofs or do just about anything.

"I'm afraid I'll have to decline your offer," He smiled at her turned back to the Cardinal, "Much as you disagree with me, we have no other option if we hope to have any chance of rescuing the princess and putting this regime to an end," The Cardinal didn't reply, "According to rumors I've heard the Head of Judicial Affairs is about to have a meeting in the town of Ordonne to the south. I'll have to go now if I want to find out when he'll get his schedule, so don't expect me to come back for at least a few days."

"Do as you wish," Mazarin stood up from his seat and made his way out of the room, pausing ever so slightly to look at Louise. He didn't even want to ask about her powers: At this point they were so desperate that it wouldn't surprise him if he accepted the help of an Elf. An effeminate lad with strange powers was rather light all things considered. The idea of asking an elf for help sounded heretical, but with all the years he'd spent in Tristain he'd become more of a politician than a Cardinal. Loyalty changed many things.

"It seems he's agreeing with us," Julio smirked and crossed his arms in front of him, "Well, I'll be leaving soon, but I think we should introduce ourselves before I depart," He bowed, "My name is Julio Chesare, a proud priest of Romalia. I know our country claimed neutrality, but my master believes that we can help even if we can't afford to send our armies and Paladins. If all goes well then I expect that we will be working together a lot in the coming days. Please treat me well."

"R-Right. My name is...Louis," She coughed awkwardly at the fake name. At least it was masculine, "I don't have much else left to say, so if there's nothing else..."

"Oh, of course," Julio smiled pleasantly and walked past her, but not before he whispered in her ear, "And the next time you wish to disguise yourself, Miss, I recommend that you wear clothes that do not expose so much skin. Just for your modesty, of course."

Her eyes widened into dinner plates and she turned around to tell him off, but he was already gone.

And that was how she found herself here. After the discussion Scarron had told one of the workers here to take her to her room, though calling it that was an insult considering the facilities she was used to. She was halfway tempted to just buy a room at an inn, but she held in the urge. She had to ration out her money now that she didn't have an allowance and she needed to stay here in order to have access to both Julio and the Cardinal. She could always steal, she supposed, but she highly doubted she would get to the point that she would willingly take someone else's belongings.

"Um, excuse me, sir?" Oh right, she almost forgot about her. Louise looked up from her dust caked bed and stared back at the girl who led her here, "I...was going to clean up the bed first..." She gestured to one of the cleaning tools lying on the corner of the room-storage space.

"...Of course you were," She closed her eyes and sighed, doing her best not to yell. She consoled herself with the fact that she would be getting into even worst conditions in the coming days. It didn't make her happy, but it at least calmed down the part of herself that continued to rage even up to now.

The cleaning was silent. The girl said not a word, which caused Louise a small amount of discomfort. After dealing with how talkative everyone was and how much they stared at her rear end, seeing someone so silent was odd in a way, "What's your name? You look familiar," She spoke out at last. The latter wasn't technically a lie - She could have sworn the dark haired girl was familiar, but she just couldn't place where.

"Siesta, sir," She grabbed one of the pillows and began to shake the dust out of it, "I...highly doubt you know of me," She turned to look back at her, "You don't look like one of Jessica's clients, else I'd think you would recognize me because of our resemblance," She turned back to the bed and started wringing out the blanket, "I don't really work as one of the waitresses," She blushed slightly, "I just work the back, washing dishes or helping the shop open."

"Then why are you here if you didn't want to be a...waitress," She was about to say something a lot less flattering that waitress, but she held in her tongue. They were housing her, albeit in a horrible room, so she needed to be nice.

"Truth be told, sir, it was either this or working in some old noble's house and I would prefer to stay close to family if possible," She admitted hesitantly, "I used to work as a maid at the Tristain Academy of Magic, but there was an...incident and I was cast out," Her grip on the blanket tightened, "Finding work was hard, no one wanted to hire a servant accused of being a thief, and the only one willing to hire me was Count Mott; he claimed to recognize me from the school. I was lucky Uncle Scarron and his daughter Jessica offered a job for me here, or else..." She suddenly went quiet.

Incident? The only one she recalled was...Oh, damn it, that would make things awkward if she ever realized that she was a student from there. She had to make doubly sure that- Wait, what was the last thing she said? "Uh...did you just say Scarron had a daughter? You mean adopted, right?"

"No, he's related to Jesicca by blood," She couldn't help but smile at the gaping look Louise gave her: They always had that reaction and it never got old, "Her mother Sarah died a few years ago, some sickness that I'm not really sure of, and Uncle Scarron changed after that. I'm not sure why he thought to act like that, but he's doing his best to be both a mother and father to her, so I can't really fault him for it."

"That man with a woman?" Louise coughed and looked to the side. It was rather clear his interest didn't lie with the fairer sex.

"I'm not sure myself," Siesta giggled, "But he's offered me a job here and I'm grateful to him. I'm trying to see if I can work with Jessica and the others more, but it's...hard to imagine them staring at me in that way. My parents always told me that you should only let the one you love see you like that and no one else."

"I can relate...hypothetically, I mean," She added at the end. She was pretty sure most males weren't told that, then again she wasn't sure. Living with a mother and three sisters, along with an overprotective father, made it hard for her to imagine having male siblings or how males would be raised in such an environment. While she didn't plan it, disguising her gender would prove useful considering how much harder it would make to

"Of course," She smiled back at her before bowing, "Thank you for talking with me, sir. I'm not really sure who you are, but you have a noble air about you. I hope you accomplish what it is you're trying to achieve: Uncle Scarron wouldn't say anything, but he wouldn't help anyone unless he was sure they were a good person."

"...Thanks..." She scratched at her cheek awkwardly before blushing ever so slightly. That was the first time anyone had ever really wished her luck - Even her mother sounded like she wasn't expecting much, "I...suppose I should visit Queen Marianne. You know she's here, right?"

"Of course," Siesta replied, "If you wish to visit her, then go down the ladder and enter the third door on you left. It's at the end of the hallway, so you should find it easily," She frowned, "Her Majesty hasn't been eating well, so if possible could you try and convince her to eat the meals we've given her? The Cardinal is worried and Uncle Scarron is doing his best to keep her healthy, but without eating we're not sure how long she's going to last. We already found her when she fainted three days ago and she's only getting worse every day."

"I'll do my best."

Marianne looked out the window, her eyes lifeless and empty. She'd been like this for the past few days: Either staring out of the window in a daze or praying in vain to Founder Brimir that her daughter was safe. She counted the drops of rain going down the window, her eyes moving ever so slightly to track the movement of the small droplets before they landed against the pane. She didn't know what day it was, or how long it had past since she stayed here. All she knew was that she and the Cardinal were trapped and that her daughter was gone.

Pointless. It was all pointless. She closed her eyes and balled her hands into fists weakly, pointedly ignoring the hunger that plagued her. Her kingdom was lost, her daughter had been taken and now she was forced to stay hidden for fear of her own subjects taking her back to those who wished the royal family dead and forgotten.

Oh, the Cardinal had some vain hope that they would make it through this and restore Tristain to it's proper place, but she highly doubted that. The best they could hope for was that they died here and that their daughter lived long enough to her next birthday. "Stay positive", Scarron would tell her. But she couldn't - All her idealism had been lost long ago, back when she still remembered herself as the naive and stupid teenager who had thoughts of forbidden romance with a dashing knight. But of course, that was before she knew the truth.

"Henry..." She whispered out her husband's name. It had been nearly a year since his death, and yet the pain refused to lessen no matter what. Henrietta stayed strong and didn't let it affect her, but she knew it was more than just mere bravado: Henry was always out, always too busy to spend time with their daughter. She could do so because she went with him at times, but Henrietta was confined to the castle until she finished her studies. He was never truly a father for her.

She smiled bitterly: He had died just a week just before her studies officially ended. Disease had taken him and even the finest water Mage had explained that he wouldn't make it much longer. But he had held on, determined to be there to congratulate her for finally finishing her studies and taking the throne once she was ready. He died croaking, his body unable to follow his commands. She still remembered how he choked on his own spit, how his fingers twitched and became unable to move as he lost control of his body.

Henrietta didn't cry at his funeral. She frowned and acted quiet for the rest of the day, but there were no tears. Marianne understood the reason - Why would she cry for a man who was never really there for her? Her own father did his best to balance being the king and being her father, no doubt because her mother had been killed due to an assassination. She did her best to take care of Henrietta, which meant Henry thought that everything would be fine even if he wasn't there.

By the void, Cardinal Mazarin was more her father at this point: He was the one who taught her right from wrong, he was the one who was always there for her growing up and her sometimes defiant attitude towards him would never have happened if she didn't know him so well. There were many times where she caught the two of them bickering or Henrietta slipping up and calling him by first name and without the title of Cardinal. The less tolerant would have had her scolded for hours due to 'disrespect', but to them it was the norm.

"Henrietta..." She cried; the first time ever since her husband died. She had refused to take the throne out of grief, and she knew that meant that Henrietta would have to take the crown at an earlier age. Both she and the Cardinal had comforted her on it, claiming that Henrietta was marrying early anyway and that it didn't matter that she refused it. Their logic was sound, but it didn't stop the guilt from keeping her up at times. She was being cowardly, and she knew it.

_"Mother, run!" Henrietta's face contorted in pain as she felt the fire lap at her skin as she fell. It was just a graze, a lucky spell that had managed to hit, but even with the rain beating down on them it still burned her skin. Sucking in the pain, she pulled out her wand and and chanted a water spell behind her. Healing would take too long and they would catch up if she made an attempt to mend the wound. Better that she at least try to keep their pursuers at bay to give the others a chance to escape._

_"Henrietta!" Marianne tried to double back, but the Cardinal held her back, "Let me go! My daughter-"_

_"Will be alright!" The Cardinal yelled at her, his normally stoic and calm demeanor failing him for once in his life, "They wish to take her, but they will kill us if they see us. If we go back there now then she will have to see her mother die right in front of her! Do you want that?"_

_"I won't leave my daughter behind!" Marianne snarled back, doing her best to loosen the Cardinal's grip on her. _

_Henrietta grimaced in pain as the mud lapped against her reddened flesh, "Agnes, go!" She grabbed the older woman's arm and forced her to look down, "They will kill my mother and the Cardinal if they're found. I beg of you: Make sure they escape."_

_The cloaked figure shot her second pistol before she looked down at the begging princess, "But-"_

_"I'll survive! They went me alive!" Her face contorted in pain and her breathing became strained, "I can't run like this and I'll only slow you down. Take them and escape, make sure that you aren't caught!"_

_"You can't honestly expect me to-"_

_"Agnes, I order you to take them and go!" The footsteps were getting louder. Their pursuers were getting close, "Just please...please go..." She looked down, her expression weary. They had been running for a good part of the night now and their pursuers wouldn't let up. Even if she wasn't injured she knew that they wouldn't stop unless they had captured her. The Cardinal and her mother weren't as 'valuable' now that she had taken the throne prior to the invasion._

_"...As you command," Agnes closed her eyes in regret before she made her way to the arguing Cardinal and Queen._

She didn't remember much after that. Agnes had knocked her unconscious and when she had come to they were already at the inn and away from the thick forests. Reconquista expected them to run to one of the smaller towns or even to go past the border; they would never think that they were hiding right under the shadow of the palace itself. But this gave her no comfort. She was a failure as a queen and now she was a failure of a mother as well.

"Excuse me," The sound of the door opening jarred her out of her memories. The voice was unfamiliar to her, but she didn't even deign to turn around. By the sound of them it was likely a different worker once again trying to check on whether she had eaten the food they had given her.

"Queen Marianne..." The queen's eyebrows raised at the call. Even if they knew who she was, they never called her by name for safety and secrecy if nothing else. Curious, she turned around and felt her breath stop in her throat. It was as if she had gone back in time: The same uniform, the same pink hair, the same expression of mixed worry and hesitation. Just like Karin, back when they were still naive to the ways of the world. The tired queen shook her head, but she was still there. This was no hallucination.

"Queen Marianne, do you recognize me?" Louise asked carefully, slowly but surely stepping ever closer to her. Scarron had warned her that the queen was stricken with grief and that if she wasn't careful then she might have made things worse.

"Karin..." Louise nearly squeaked as her mother's friend suddenly hugged her, "Karin...everything is going wrong and...and I don't know what to do...!" She felt moisture bleed through her thin clothing: The queen was crying, "Henrietta's gone...and-and we're being hunted down like animals in the street. I just..."

"Queen Marianne...I'm not Karin..." She loosened herself from the crying woman's grasp and went down to one knee, "I'm her daughter, Louise. I know I shouldn't be telling you this, but I thought that you needed to know that my mother worries for you everyday and that I will do my best to get your daughter back."

"Louise...?" The name was somewhat familiar, but she could- Oh yes, now she remembered: Henrietta's childhood playmate. Marianne wiped her eyes and looked at the child standing in front of her - The resemblance to Karin was uncanny, down to the determination in her voice, "You...plan to get my daughter back?" The doubt the queen exhibited was rather obvious. Louise couldn't blame her. The last time the queen had seen her she was crying after skinning her knees when she and Henrietta fell from a tree. Not a great image for her daughter's would-be rescuer.

"Yes, I do," She stood up and grabbed the queen's hands in a tight grip, "I've been granted great power and with it I plan to do whatever it takes to rescue Princess Henrietta, with my life if need be. I promise you that they will not get away with this and that she will sit on the throne again, no matter what."

Marianne wanted to scoff, to tell the girl that she was being foolish to think that she could do it all by herself. But something in her eyes ignited the hope she had buried: They were just like Karin's - Steely, courageous, unbreakable. The determination in her voice brought her back to so long ago, when her knight protected her from that monstrous Undead abomination. She had promised to protect her and, through near-impossible odds, she had fulfilled that promise.

"...I entrust my daughter to you," She felt tears fall again. Hope had reached her once again and she prayed with all her heart that it wouldn't be crushed.

"I will save her. No matter what."

* * *

**Alright, finally finished that . Read and Review :) Anyway, just a heads up: There might be scenes from Julio's perspective in the Good!Story - Speak up right now if anyone has a problem with that. If it works I might also place scenes from Agnes' perspective as well. Nevertheless the main protagonist is Louise, so don't worry about the other characters stealing her role. Agnes and Julio act as a foil to her inexperience (Agnes) and her Idealism and idea of loyalty (Julio). This was already shown with Julio shooting down her exclamations that the army should have fought back.**

**Yuri-Hime-Chan - I think you've got your perception REALLY romanticized. First: She didn't work for the crown. Hell, she was FIRED at that point where she was investigating Estashu. **

**Second: The only reason her disguise worked was because was everybody was a moron. The excuse was 'No one could have a chest that flat!', and the somehow miss her lack of male genitals even when she goes to sleep with a shirt and nothing else. **

**Third: The reason she found out about Estashu's secret? Because Daphne got cold feet and decided not to suck her blood. If not for that Karin would have been turned into a ghoul and, at best, remained incapable of proving Estashi's guilt.  
**

**Fourth: She completely bungles her investigation and would have been executed for treason if Centurion didn't decide to bail her out via an awesome Manticore rescue.**

**In conclusion: Karin's a War Hero, but she's not the badass you think she is in the side-story. If she wasn't so lucky then there were a dozen different ways she would have died/lost. She improved later in life, but War Hero does not equal Assassin and we have no proof she'd be as good as Corvo or Daud in the capacity in which they fight back. Hence why Louise is the title character here and not a younger version of Karin - Although I did juggle the idea in my head before dropping it.  
**

**Guest - Had to google translate, but thanks:)**

**Feral Wolfskin - It's park of the joke: No one figured out Karin was female either. Don't take it too seriously.**

**Phantomslayer66 - In the context of the story it doesn't really matter. The story is about Louise's struggles with Reconquista, not geography. Dishonored was about Corvo's/Daud's struggles against their targets, not the continent or world at large.  
**

**Anybody interested in the Evil!Story please look at the next paragraph:**

**Alright, so recently I've hit a dead end when it comes to the Evil!Story: Louise is a Villain Sue and she's practically won already given that she's already possessed Henrietta. So I have two choices now - Abandon the story altogether or make a new character.**

**Now the Evil!Story is based on Knife of Dunwall/Brigmore Witches while the Good!Story is based on the main Dishonored storyline. So essentially the story is about a power hungry witch possessing somebody else because she thought that 'She stole my life' and that she deserved to be on the throne. This doesn't make much sense for Louise...but it does for Josette :/**

**To the unaware: Josette is Tabitha's secret, long-lost twin sister (I'm not making this up) who Julio is sleeping with on the condition that she takes Gallia's throne from right under Tabitha's nose. While those who do know her hate her for being a Mary Sue, I find it hard to disagree with them because, apart from slavish devotion to Julio, we have absolutely nothing on her. Without Julio, who is Josette? Tabitha's twin sister. But that's not enough. A character should be able to stand on their own, not just act like a plot device who reacts to other characters. From what I've read she does seem to have dreams of grandeur: She daydreams on being some sort of High Priestess because of Julio's promises. And while she does feel slightly guilty for taking the throne, this does absolutely jack all to stop her or make her actually do anything for the sister she slighted.**

**So we take her character before Julio gets his mitts on her. Here we have a girl who was given away to the convent not due to tragedy but because Gallia has an asinine rule that if twins are born one has to be killed. So she stays in that monastery for fifteen years, her life boring and her anger at being abandoned rising. And then, one day, she hears that her sister succeeds the throne after rebelling against her crazy uncle. We as the audience know that Tabitha's life since she was 10 was absolute garbage, but to Josette she sees a girl who rose up and, in true fairy tale fashion, became queen after lots of tragedy and drama. She would then think that she deserves the throne since she's just as eligible for it and that Tabitha 'took her life'.**

**Then The Outsider brands her to see how much Chaos she can cook up - The guy is bored and makes it clear that, while he finds low chaos 'interesting', he finds High Chaos 'fun'.**

**The only problem is who'll be the protagonist. I'm tempted to use Saito, but that guy wouldn't know stealth if it bonked at the back of his head. Julio's also another choice and he also has motivations: Josette is a Void Mage, but since she got branded and started cooking up a 'Delilah plot' and made it clear she wouldn't be controlled then she's a liability. Better to just kill her now and hope the magic jumps into a less crazy/power hungry Void Mage after she passes on.**

**Hell, it makes more sense for Josette to have a coven: Many of the girls in that monastery were abandoned by noble parents or they're noble bastards that the family didn't want, meaning they're powerless and incapable of fighting against their circumstances. She offers them a chance at power and they'd be jumping at her for the chance.**

**Or I could just forget the Evil!Story altogether. It's way harder to write.**


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